


Bruised Skin

by MiriamMT



Series: Gallavich FanFiction [4]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Abusive Terry Milkovich, Cute, Dead Terry Milkovich, Flirting, Ghosts, Inspired By American Horror Story, M/M, Mandy Milkovich and Mickey Milkovich are Twins, Protective Mickey Milkovich, Smut, Terry Milkovich Being an Asshole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-25 07:21:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 25,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22032175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiriamMT/pseuds/MiriamMT
Summary: The Gallaghers move into a new, old house. Suddenly strange things start to happen, Debbie plays with a girl no one knows around the neighbourhood, cabinets and doors are being opened and Fiona finds small injuries everywhere. But the strangest thing happens to Ian: he falls in love.
Relationships: Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich
Series: Gallavich FanFiction [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1551802
Comments: 60
Kudos: 162





	1. Bad Music

It's been a while since the Gallaghers moved into their new house.  
It was an old house, it was finally big enough for the whole family, but for that weirdly cheap. 

Fiona hadn't thought about that too much. She was just glad to find an affordable house close to their old neighbourhood and friends but far away enough from Frank. Now the kids didn't fight about the space in the rooms anymore, that was what counted for her. 

At first everything seemed perfect, but now more and more problems seemed to emerge. The water turned hot and cold for no reason sometimes. The siblings fell from the stairs or stumbled suspiciously often. Things broke every now and then for no reason.

Fiona put up with it. Her siblings seemed to be happy. Especially Debbie, she had found a new friend that must live around. No one had actually seen her yet, but Debbie wouldn't shut up about her. 

Ian came home from school. Fiona sat in the living room helping Carl with his homework.  
"Hey" he greeted, "Where is Lip?"  
Fiona shrugged, "I think he went out to get something to repair the sink in the kitchen."  
"Liam?"  
"Asleep upstairs."  
"And Debbie?"  
"She said she wanted to play with Mandy in the garden." 

Ian nodded and walked through the house to the backdoor that led outside.  
Debbie sat outside with her dolls in a circle drinking tea.  
"Do you also want some more tea, Mandy?" Debbie asked. Ian looked around confused, he couldn't see another child around. He just shrugged it off and went back inside and upstairs into his room. 

He threw his backpack into a corner and flopped down on his bed.  
Ian sighed and looked to the side. 

Suddenly, he saw a boy sitting on his desk. Ian jumped up and from the bed, taking a step back surprised. 

"Who the fuck are you? How did you get in here?"  
The boy smiled and jumped down from the desk.  
"Backdoor" he shrugged, "You've got terrible taste in music by the way" he walked over to Ian's stereo and looked through the CD covers, "I mean, come on, boybands? Really? Beyoncé. Who the fuck is Shawn Mendes? Why don't you hang up a sign that says you're gay?"

Ian cleared his throat and pointed up to the rainbow flag above his bed. Mickey looked at it and chuckled, "Well played."  
"But that has nothing to do with the music I like" he growled and walked over to him to take the CDs out of the stranger's hands, "It's none of your business anyways."  
"Maybe not. But I can still inform you, that your taste in music is crap."  
"It's not!" He defended himself. 

Mickey held a CD cover up, "Dude, Justin Bieber?"  
Ian bit his lip and took the CD from him.  
"I ask again, who are you? And what are you doing here?" 

"I'm Mandy's brother." He shrugged, " She wanted to play with... whatever her name is but didn't want to come alone."  
"Her name is Debbie."  
The stranger rolled his eyes and walked through the room, going through Ian's book and movie collections.  
"What is your name?" Ian asked. 

"It's Mickey." He stated, "Star Wars 8?" He asked confused, "Weren't there only six parts of that crap?" He shook his head and put the DVD back into the shelf. 

"I'm Ian."  
"Okay."  
"So, when will you leave again?"  
"What, am I not a joy to be around?" He winked at Ian. 

"Well, you kinda broke into my room and went through my stuff. You're not exactly making a positive first impression."  
"Don't worry, I didn't look through your panty drawer." 

Ian scoffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest.  
"Could you stop making homophobic comments?"  
Mickey chuckled, "You just tied wearing panties to being gay, not me. But now I'm tempted to look if you're actually having girl panties in that drawer." 

"I don't."  
"Okay" Mickey shrugged but grinned mischievously.  
"So, do you live around here?"  
"You could say that. You just moved here, huh?"  
"Yeah."  
"You're a fucking lot."  
"Six"  
Mickey nodded "And no parents around. How's that working out?"  
"My sister is our legal guardian."  
Mickey bit his bottom lip "Good choice." He mumbled. 

"What do you mean with that?" Ian asked confused.  
Mickey shrugged "sometimes siblings are better than parents, don't you think?"  
Ian sat down on his bed "Yeah, I guess." 

Suddenly Mickey looked to the door and started to leave.  
"Hey, where are you going?"  
Mickey laughed, "What, thought you wanted me to leave. I have to bring Mandy home. But no worries, I'm sure I'll come back here... until then" he walked towards Ian again and pushed something into his hand, "Listen to this"


	2. The Window

Ian had no clue why, but he felt drawn to Mickey. The boy just had something on him that kept Ian on his feet, peaked his interest. Apart from the fact, that he was stunningly attractive. 

He had listened to the music Mickey gave him, way more e-guitars than he was used to, but he liked it. It was cool. It wasn't something Ian would usually pay attention to, but it kept him interested and made him want more -kind of like Mickey himself. 

Ian was almost disappointed whenever he would come home and not see that Mickey broke into his room again- what was strange even for him. 

Two weeks After meeting Mickey he was alone at home in the afternoon.  
He was in the kitchen when he suddenly heard weird noises from upstairs. Almost as if two people would run down the hallway. 

"Hello?" Ian called through the house, "Is someone here?"  
No answer came. Ian shrugged it off, he was probably imagining sounds. 

He walked back upstairs, there was no sign that anyone was around.  
He walked back into his room and stopped surprised when he saw Mickey sitting on his bed. 

"Hi ginger"  
"Hey, you again."  
"Me again" Mickey grinned.  
Ian looked around, "How did you get in?"  
"Window.", he shrugged.  
"I closed the window."  
"You obviously didn't."  
"I'm sure I did" Ian mumbled and sat down at his desk.  
"Maybe I can walk through walls, who knows." Mickey got up from the bed and walked over to Ian. 

"What are you doing here? Debbie isn't home so if you wanted to bring Mandy..."  
"I know she isn't home. I came alone too." 

Ian remembered the weird noises he heard from the kitchen.  
"Are you really alone? I thought I heard people running down the hallway earlier."  
Mickey blinked a few times and looked to the door, pulling his eyebrows together. 

He looked back at Ian trying to look as clueless as possible.  
"I only came through the window and Waited here. You probably imagined it. Old house, it makes all kinds of noises."  
Ian shrugged, "Probably. So, if you didn't bring your sister over, why are you here?" 

Mickey smiled, " Did you like the CD I gave you?"  
He walked over to the stereo and opened it to get his CD out.  
"Actually yes. I liked it a lot."  
Mickey looked pleased with himself. 

"Just a bummer that I only had it on CD so I could only listen to it at home."  
Mickey scoffed, "What aren't you able to put the CD into your computer and put the music on it and then download the songs on your phone? What does that take, fifteen minutes? Thirty?" 

Ian blinked confused.  
"No one does that anymore. Also, I only have a Laptop and you can't put CDs into that."  
"You can't put CDs into your laptop? How do you watch movies on that thing then?"  
"You're kidding right? We stream it."  
Mickey raised his eyebrows confused.  
"On Netflix for example... You have no idea what I'm talking about."  
Mickey shook his head. 

Ian chuckled, "How old are you again?"  
Mickey shrugged "Seventeen. What are you doing there anyways, homework?" He quickly changed the topic. 

"Yeah, algebra. I fucking hate that shit I have no idea what I'm doing."  
Mickey looked over his notes, "That's wrong" he pointed at his calculation, "That too." 

"Leave me alone, at least I know what Netflix is.", Ian snapped.  
Mickey chuckled, "At least your priorities are straight. Scoot over"  
"What?"  
"You're terrible, let me do that."  
"You want to do my homework?"  
Mickey shrugged and pulled another CD case out of his jacket, "This is for you, now scoot over." 

Ian smiled and took the CD from him.  
Mickey sat down eagerly as if math homework would be the first interesting thing to do in years. 

Ian put the CD into his stereo and watched Mickey.  
The Ginger took another chair and pushed it over to the desk to sit next to Mickey. 

"It's really relaxing doing that while you're breathing down my neck" Mickey said sarcastically and looked at him.  
Their faces were closer than Ian intended, but he didn't back off. He was too mesmerized by the other boy. Not just by his looks or anything... He just... had something on him. Ian couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but Mickey seemed different from all the other boys Ian ever met. 

"So, do you want me to explain this stuff to you, or do you just want to keep watching me?"  
Ian blinked a few times and backed off a few inches. Mickey chuckled.  
"I'm fine with it either way, you don't have to run to the other end of the room, ginger.", he turned back to the paper again. 

"If you don't have any other plans today, I could, uh, show you how Netflix works... we could watch a movie or something."  
Mickey grinned at his calculation, "The first time I came here, you tried to get rid of me, now you want me to stay longer?" 

Ian shrugged, "Well, I was surprised, I don't find a burglar in my room every day."  
"I'm not a burglar. I'm just a guy with a better taste in music than you that walked through your house and room uninvited. I had no intention to steal anything... I was very close to throwing some of these CDs of yours away though." 

"What? Cause it's 'gay music'?" Ian crossed his arms in front of his chest.  
Mickey chuckled and looked at him, "Man, Did you even listen to the music I gave you? One of their songs is literally about gay sex in prison. You ever saw a life performance on the internet or some shit? Would be your little gay ass's wet dream."  
"Sounds like it's your wet dream" Ian mumbled and shook his head.  
Mickey just shrugged and kept doing his math homework.  
The little shrug of course didn't went unnoticed by Ian. And he wondered... what the actual reason for Mickeys visit was. 

After Mickey had finished the homework like he knew nothing more entertaining in the world, they sat down on Ian's bed. 

Ian took his laptop and opened Netflix.  
Mickey blinked a few times, "Your internet is fast" he mumbled.  
"It's actually really not." Ian chuckled, "How fucking slow is your internet?"  
"We don't have any" Mickey shrugged.  
"You don't have any internet?"  
"Not for the past years at least. And when we still had some, it was slower than this. So how do we do this streaming business? Is it like YouTube?" 

"Uhm... Yeah, kind of, I guess. You just select a movie and then we can watch it. What's your favourite movie?"  
Mickey shrugged, "You select one. But no rom com shit, you already listen to Justin Bieber, don't make it worse." 

"You know, I found out, that everyone who is so anti rom-com actually enjoys them secretly."  
"No way. Put something on with killers and stuff."  
"Okay... let me have a look", he typed a few things into the search bar and went through the movie collection on the screen. 

"There, se7en. That's a good one. Do you know it?"  
"No."  
"Put that one on."  
Ian shrugged and clicked on the movie he quickly put up blankets and pillows and books on the bed and build a little base that he could put the laptop on top of, so Mickey and he could lean back and watch the movie. 

The two boys spent the whole day watching random movies on Ian's laptop, while eating snacks. So, Ian also didn't eat with the rest of the family for dinner.  
When it got late, Ian eventually fell asleep, leaning on Mickeys shoulder. 

The older boy smiled at the cute redhead. He quickly lay Ian down on the pillows properly and put the laptop away. He tucked Ian in under the blanket, all without waking him up.  
He watched him sleeping for another minute, enjoying his beauty just a moment, before disappearing again.


	3. Kiss me you moron

Ian was disappointed when he woke up alone. Mickey left without saying good bye to him.  
In school he couldn't stop thinking about Mickey either. He even found himself looking for Mickey in the crowds. After all, Mickey was his age he must go to school with him, right?  
But he never found him.

The homework Mickey had done for him were perfectly correct. If Mickey was so smart, maybe he went to another school or finished early.

Ian sat on the kitchen table and sighed when he looked at his new homework. It's been another two weeks since Mickey had visited him last.  
Debbie came in from the backdoor, laughing.  
"Hey Debbs, what are you up to?"  
"I just get some juice for Mandy and me."  
"Oh, Mandy is here?"  
"Yeah, outside, why?"

"Just, uh... has Mandy ever mentioned having a brother?"  
Debbie shrugged "She has four brothers I think.... or five, no four."  
Ian nodded, "Hey, why don't you bring her inside?"  
"It's nice outside" Debbie shrugged again, "Mandy doesn't like playing in the house while people are in here."  
Ian nodded and Debbie left the room again.

Until Ian met Mickey, He had actually thought, Mandy was just some imaginary friend, his siblings thought so too, because no one had ever seen the other girl before.

But if Mandy was here... maybe so was Mickey...  
Ian took his school stuff and went upstairs to his room.

He was disappointed when Mickey didn't sit on his bed or desk.  
"You almost look sad" a voice said suddenly. Ian closed his door and saw Mickey leaning against his closet, "Are you already so attached, that you're disappointed when I don't break in?"

Ian turned around so Mickey wouldn't see his blush. He put his school stuff on his desk.  
"Not attached" he mumbled.  
Mickey chuckled and came over to him.

"Of course not" Mickey chuckled, "Scoot over let me do that."  
Ian raised his eyebrows at him.  
"What kind of Nerd are you that you voluntarily do my homework?" He asked but got up to get the other chair again, so Mickey could sit down at the desk and do the algebra homework.

"I'm not a nerd. Just bored. Except if you want to keep crying about not being able to understand this shit."  
Ian rolled his eyes at him and watched him doing the calculations.

"Freckles, why don't you put on some music?" Mickey asked eventually.  
Ian nodded, he was still as mesmerized by the other boy as he was the first time.  
Mickey pulled a CD out of his jacket again, "Brought you another band this time, it's more dark rock."

Ian smiled at the CD and went over to his stereo.  
"You were right by the way, your music is better than most of the stuff I listen to. Even though there's lots of drugs and dying in your music."  
Mickey chuckled, "Well, this one is more romantic, actually."

Ian looked at him with raised eyebrows, Mickey was facing away from him so he couldn't see his expression.  
Ian eventually grinned smugly and put the music on. So, Mickey brought him romantic music, huh?

Ian sat next to him again and kept watching him.   
They sat very close to each other and Mickey somehow found a way to scoot closer and closer to him, what made Ian shiver.

Mickey grinned when he felt Ian shivering next to him and faced him again.  
"What? Am I sitting too close to you?" He whispered.  
Ian's breath hitched when he looked him in the eyes. The more and more Ian looked at Mickey, the more attractive he got, but that just wasn't what Ian was drawn to, though. It was something about _him_ , something Ian couldn't point out.

"No" Ian whispered.   
Mickey smiled and studied his face. They were sitting so close that Ian would just have to move one inch to kiss him.  
And boy, he wanted to kiss him. No boy or man that he had before, that he was in a relationship with or fucked for fun, had him ever wanting to kiss someone so badly.

Both boys were looking at each other, unsure about the next step. They were exploring the face of the other, waiting for something to happen.  
Ian didn't even know, if Mickey was into boys or if he just imagined this connection between them. 

After an almost unbearably tense minute, he made the decision to just go for it, but just when he wanted to lean closer and close the gap between them, they heard a loud shattering noise from the hallway.

Both boys rapidly turned their heads to the door.   
It sounded like someone let a vase fall or something. Ian couldn't even remember any vases standing around in the hallway.

He quickly got up and opened the door. No one was in the hallway but a plate and a glass, that Ian remembered seeing standing around somewhere, lay shattered on the floor.  
"Debbie?" Ian called through the house, Mickey stood behind him. When the older boy saw the mess in the hallway, he mumbled something under his breath.

Ian turned around to him, "What did you say?"  
"Nothing, forget it. Wow look at the time, I have to go" he said quickly and pushed past Ian. 

"Wait, already?"  
"Yeah, it's late. Gotta grab Mandy and get home." He walked quickly to the staircase, Ian followed him.   
"Oh... uh, why don't you give me your phone number, you could text me before you come over the next time."  
"Would be complicated. I don't have a phone."  
"You... don't have a cell phone?"  
"No, I'll come back at some point, you'll see. Bye" and the boy pretty much ran out of the back door.

A moment later Debbie came in with a sad expression on her face.  
"Hey Debbs, what's up?"  
"Mandy had to leave already. We were in the middle of our game" she complained.  
Ian bit his bottom lip, "Hey were you upstairs a minute ago?"  
"No, we were outside the whole time, why?"  
"Nothing, just... I thought there was someone who threw some dishes around. Maybe it was just the wind though."

Ian walked upstairs again. He wished, he would've just hurried up and kissed Mickey.  
On the other hand, he wasn't so sure Mickey even wanted that. The way he ran out of his house indicated that he wanted to get away from him and the almost kissing situation. Then again, he didn't pull away earlier, he kept looking at him - and he brought music that he described as "romantic". 

Ian sat back at his desk. The worst part was, that he had to finish his math homework on his own.  
He looked down at his paper and the calculations Mickey already finished when he saw a little note on the edge of the paper.

 _"Kiss me you moron"_  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	4. Hints

Ian had never been as impatient as he was while waiting for Mickey to reappear.  
The last few times it took him two weeks, so during the second week of waiting for Mickey, Ian came into his room every day hoping to find him, but he didn't come. 

Now it's been three weeks. Ian sat in his room at his desk, he was in a bad mood. He had a test coming up and he still had no clue about algebra. Right now, he sat on his Spanish homework. 

He sighed and decided to take a break. He walked downstairs to Fiona who was in the kitchen. "Do we have anything to eat?"  
"I'm cooking later"  
"But I'm hungry now."  
"Are you, or are you bored and don't want to do your homework?"  
"Who are you, my mother?" Ian mumbled.  
"If I'd be your mother, I wouldn't give a fuck if you eat at all, Ian." 

Ian rolled his eyes and took a pudding from the fridge. After he finished it, he walked upstairs again. 

His eyes almost fell out of his head, when he saw Mickey sitting at his desk. 

"Mickey" Ian smiled.  
"Hi" he just mumbled and scribbled something down. Ian sat next to him.  
"You're good at Spanish as well?"  
"We lived in Mexico once, cause my dad was running from the feds.", he shrugged and turned to face him again, "You put my music on" he smiled. 

Ian nodded, "Your take on 'romantic' is pretty creepy, but I like the music."  
Mickey smiled widely before turning back to the homework.  
"It's interesting to know that you aren't only bad with algebra, but also this."  
"You're mean" Ian mumbled.  
Mickey shrugged, "But you like it." 

Ian bit his bottom lip and looked away.  
"Hey, no hard times, freckles, you aren't that bad. My brothers lived in Mexico for years and they couldn't do this." He scribbled something more down. 

Ian thought about his message from last time "Kiss me you moron"  
He wanted to kiss him, but he was waiting for the right moment, for some kind of signal from Mickey. 

He patiently watched Mickey finishing the Spanish homework.  
"So, that was easy, you got more algebra?"  
"Already finished it" Ian shrugged.  
Mickey chuckled, "Oh yeah? Let me see." 

Ian rolled his eyes.  
"You know, making fun of people won't bring you to your goals."  
Mickey shrugged "Worked so far, didn't it?"  
Ian wasn't sure how to answer that, he just pulled his algebra homework out and gave it to him. Mickey grinned and sighed.  
"Thank god, you're pretty." 

Ian rolled his eyes but seeing how happy it seemed to make the boy to just get some activity, even though it was math homework, made him smile. 

He kept watching him scribbling down the right numbers.  
The "romantic" music was still on and Mickey started humming to it.  
Ian could fall in love with the picture on spot. 

Usually he had two types of guys to date or fuck:  
Old, creepy guys, married, sometimes even had kids - their relationships had 'Ian has daddy issues' written all over them.  
And hot, muscular jock-types. Charismatic douche bags that went to the gym and were so full of themselves it hurt. Often did some school sports and played lady's man - Just to be fucked in the ass by Ian under the high school bleachers. 

Mickey wasn't either of these.  
He was small, Ian guessed, he worked out and had defined muscles in his arms, from the way they bend under his clothes. He didn't wear some sketchy leather jacket or any hot, expensive, show-off clothes like the other guys Ian fucked. It was like he was hiding his body a bit, having every inch of skin covered, except his neck, face and hands. His hands had tattoos on the bruised up knuckles and Ian remembered, seeing the exact same bruises the other times Mickey had visited him, what was odd - they should have healed by now, right?  
Also, Mickey wasn't as stupid as Ian's average fuck, he was smart, spoke two languages, loved doing his algebra homework and listened to emo music and dark rock. He called songs about dying because of love romantic.  
And yet, he was snarky and sarcastic and switched between calling him cute names like "freckles" and insults like "moron". And yet, Ian felt it was more endearing how Mickey wrote that down "Kiss me you moron." 

He wanted to keep this boy around and get to know him, and he really wanted to kiss him. 

"Can I ask you something?" Ian asked eventually.  
"Sure, ask away."  
"Where are you going to school?"  
Mickey bit his bottom lip and hesitated.  
"I, uh... it's been years since I've been to an actual school. I get home-schooled, so to say. It's pretty boring, I feel like I've been reading the same books about Algebra for 10 years."  
"That would explain why you're so good at it" Ian mumbled.  
Mickey shrugged.  
"Any more questions?" 

Ian licked his bottom lip.  
"Are you gay?"  
Mickey stopped mid-movement. He cleared his throat and looked at him.  
He looked at him for a while before laughing suddenly.  
"You're so blunt, and here I am dropping hints." Mickey shook his head, "Maybe we have to work on your reading comprehension, if you can't even take the information out of a four word sentence." 

"Hints? You gave no hints at all."  
"I improved your taste in music and brought you CDs. Even with romantic music. Come on, the next step would already be asking you to marry me." 

Ian chuckled, "You're stupid" he grinned at him.  
"And you're blushing." Mickey smiled. 

Ian looked away because he blushed some more, having Mickey chuckle again.  
"Alright, Gallagher, I swear if you don't kiss me soon, I'm gonna jump out of a window" 

Ian quickly turned around to him again and leaned towards him to kiss him. 

What started out as impatient and hastily, both had been waiting to do this for weeks, turned slower and calmer, but more passionate. 

Ian had one hand on the back of Mickeys neck, the other one in his black hair.  
Mickey had his hands on Ian's hips and pulled him closer. 

Ian pushed his chair back and crawled on top of Mickey, he sat in his lap, one leg on each side of the chair Mickey sat on. 

The older boy gasped into the kiss and pulled him closer on him, roaming his hands over his back. 

Suddenly they heard loud rumbling and a loud, painfilled scream.  
They pulled away and looked to the door.  
"Fuck, what was that?" Ian panted.  
Mickey bit his bottom lip and looked conflicted.

"Ian!" Someone yelled from downstairs, "Ian, come quickly!" 

Ian got down from Mickey, "I'll be right back" he promised Mickey and ran out of the room.  
He ran down the stairs and stopped surprised at the bottom. 

Lip sat on the bottom of the stairs, he held his leg and groaned in pain.  
"What happened?"  
"He fell down the fucking stairs, I already called Kev and V, if V says we have to bring him to the hospital, Kev's gonna bring us. Help me to bring him to the couch." 

"Gosh, guys, I'm fine."  
"You fell on your head and your leg is probably broken!" Fiona hissed, Ian help him stand up." 

Ian and Fiona helped Lip to get up and limp to the couch.  
"Okay, I'll be right down again, I just have to get something from upstairs." Ian mumbled and ran upstairs again, to tell Mickey about the situation.  
But Mickeys wasn't in the room anymore.


	5. Insecure

Strange things kept happening after Lips accident. Carl and Debbie were playing on their old xbox one day when suddenly the whole thing went up in flames.  
Fiona cut herself while cooking way more often than usual.  
Just Ian came out of it without any harm.

Ian didn't mind the stuff that happened too much thought. He just wanted to see Mickey again and kiss him again.

He hated, that he had no way of grabbing a hold of him. He had no idea where he lived, and he allegedly had no cell phone.

Ian was in a bad mood, he just got his algebra test back - and of course he failed that shit.

He stormed upstairs and threw his school bag to the side.  
"What got you so riled up?" A voice came from his bed.

Ian looked up. Mickey lay on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.  
Ian smiled at him, before realising what Mickey was staring at. Above his bed was a poster of a halfnaked actor.  
Ian blushed in embarrassment and walked over to him.

He got on the bed and leaned over Mickey, who grinned up at him.  
"How is your brother?"  
"He's alright, broke his foot, but it could've been worse."  
Mickey nodded and ran his hand through Ian's red hair.

"Why were you so upset when you came in?" He mumbled.  
"Failed my algebra test."  
Mickey smiled, " Maybe you should have done your homework."

Ian grinned and put his hand on Mickeys cheek, " Yeah, Maybe I should have studied instead of thinking about kissing you the whole time."  
"Sure, you didn't think about him?" He teased and pointed at the poster on the ceiling.

Ian moved on top of Mickey, straddling his hips. He shook his head and leaned down to kiss him.  
The older boy had his hands on Ian's waist.

When they separated, they looked at each other smiling and panting slightly.  
"Hey, if that's the type of guy you usually like, how come you kiss me voluntarily?", Mickey asked.  
Ian grinned, "You are insecure about your looks?"  
Mickey shrugged.  
"First of all, you look amazing.", he gently stroked over his cheek, "But, I had all kinds of stupid, douchebag sport guys. You're so... different from the guys I 'usually like', but that's exactly what makes me so attracted to you, I guess."

Mickey smiled and pulled him down to kiss him again, more passionate this time, showing, that he appreciated Ian's words.

"Ian!" They were stopped by a yell, "Ian!"  
Ian sighed, "That's my brother. I'm his personal slave until my sister gets here." He got up from Mickey, "I'll be back in a minute. Don't you dare to just disappear again, okay?"

Mickey rolled his eyes while Ian left the room.

Lip lay in his bed, acting like he was about to die.  
"Finally, I almost screamed my lungs out" he sighed.  
"Maybe we should get such a baby monitor for you, that would at least match up to your whining."

Lip showed him his middle finger.  
"Could you bring me something to drink and a sandwich?"  
"Sure" Ian sighed and went downstairs to the kitchen.

After Lip was happy again, Ian went back to him room.  
Mickey didn't lie on the bed anymore, but the creepy romantic music was back on.  
He spotted the black haired boy at his desk.

Ian walked over to him, Mickey went through his maths book at the moment.

"I don't know that song" Ian mumbled confused and sat next to Mickey.  
"I brought you another album from that band. Do you like the song?"  
"Yeah, I liked almost all of the songs you showed me so far."  
"Good, cause that's my favourite song."  
"And If I wouldn't like it you would just get up and leave, or what?"  
"Maybe" Mickey shrugged and grinned at him.

"Hey, you said, the next step after bringing me romantic music would be to ask me to marry you. Does that mean, with bringing new music, you ask me to be your boyfriend?"  
Mickey bit his bottom lip and suddenly seemed shyer than usual, he shrugged, " Will you be my boyfriend?"  
Ian laughed and kissed his cheek, "Yes, of course."


	6. What are you hiding?

Ian was usually bored pretty quickly with new relationships, boyfriends or flings. He never had a relationship before that lasted longer than 3 or 4 months. He kept his affairs, boytoys and fuckbuddies a little longer, cause they only saw each other for sex, he didn't get annoyed and bored by them so quickly - but so far, Ian had left every one of them, before they even thought about leaving him. 

It was different with Mickey.  
He wanted to be with him 24/7. He cherished every second he could spend with him. 

They spend most of the time glued together, kissing each other. Mickey still insisted on doing Ian's homework for him and even tried to tutor him a bit so he wouldn't fail the next test again. 

They talked a lot about things they liked and Ian's family, Mickey wasn't really so keen on opening up about his family, so Ian let the topic be. The rest of the time they watched movies together or binged something on Netflix while cuddling in Ian's bed. 

Another thing that was different with Mickey was, that they didn't have sex yet.  
Usually that was the first thing he did when he liked someone. Usually, he would have fucked Mickey into his mattress the second time they had kissed at all. 

But even though he was extremely attracted to Mickey, and recently jerked off to the thought of him more than to anything else, he felt like it wasn't the right time yet.  
Mickey was special, he had to act accordingly. 

Holding back and not ripping Mickeys clothes off every time they made out was harder than the 17 year old thought. 

They were a good seven months into the relationship now. Time just flew by for Ian, during all this time he almost hadn't notice, that he never had been at Mickey's yet, or that they never met outside Ian's room so far.  
But Ian also couldn't care less, he was happy with Mickey and he liked staying in the privacy of his room. Since he had to share his room with all of his 4 brothers before, he appreciated finally being alone. 

Also, Mickey had explained, that his dad "isn't exactly fond of gay people" and that he would rather avoid the chance of him knowing about them. Also, he wasn't really into meeting new people and socialising, therefore also wasn't keen on meeting Ian's siblings and getting asked a thousand questions. 

Ian knew, that his siblings could be a pain in the ass when it came to new relationships of any of the siblings and was almost sure Mickey would make a run for it and never contact him again after being terrorized by Lip and Fiona for more than an hour. 

He had known from the beginning that Mickey was special, he felt so drawn to him from the get-go and his feelings intensified over the past months. 

By now, he was sure that he was in love with the other boy.  
And if Mickey was in love with him too, it was the right time for the next step, right? 

It was Friday and Ian and Mickey lazily lay on Ian's bed, watching some TV show about hunting ghosts on Ian's laptop while cuddling.  
Mickey leaned against Ian, sitting between his legs. He had his face turned upwards so Ian could kiss him. 

Suddenly, Ian heard a noise from above them, as if someone would jump around in the attic. 

"Did you hear that?" the ginger asked.  
"Probably just your siblings."  
"No, they hate going to the attic, it's too creepy up there."  
"Maybe now they did though to distract you from me. And sadly, it's working." 

Ian smiled, "Sorry, but I've been hearing all kinds of weird noises recently. I'm becoming crazy"  
"It's an old house, freckles. Old houses make weird noises."  
"My sister thinks it's haunted." Ian mumbled. 

Mickey turned around, "Yeah, probably, can we drop the topic now? I swear, you watch too many of these TV shows."  
"I Think it would be cool to live in a haunted house."  
Mickey frowned, "Why?" 

Ian shrugged, "I don't know. Would be thrilling, don't you think?"  
Mickey chuckled, "Have you ever paid attention to any horror movie at all?"  
Ian nodded, " Yeah, but I wouldn't be scared, I'd try to befriend the ghosts and live with them in peace" Ian pointed out, "If both sides would just chill, I think ghosts and people could get perfectly along!" 

Mickey looked at him and started laughing.  
He leaned up and pecked his lips.  
Ian rolled his eyes, "What are you laughing about so much?" He grumbled.  
Mickey shrugged, "I just love you a fuck lot, you know that?" 

Ian looked at him with raised eyebrows and then kissed him deeply, "I love you too."  
Mickey smiled and pecked his lips again. 

"Can't believe you said it first." Ian mumbled.  
Mickey frowned, "Is that a big deal?"  
"Kind of, Yeah."  
"Should I have held a big speech about it?" Mickey chuckled. 

Ian laughed and pulled him in for another kiss. They quickly went from soft kissing to making out again. Ian slowly made them lie down on the bed properly, Mickey on top of him, he didn't plan on fucking the Milkovich right now already, but he wanted to test the waters a bit. 

Ian let his hands wander down Mickeys sides and slipped his fingers under his jacket and shirt. So far, Mickey didn't seem to mind his wandering hands, it also wasn't the first time Ian touched his skin under his clothes, but more hadn't happened so far.  
Ian let his hands wander down again to Mickeys jeans, when they were suddenly disturbed. 

A loud banging and shattering noise came from the hallway.  
They separated and looked to the door.  
Mickey muttered something under his breath angrily. Ian just gently pushed him down from him and went to have a look in the hallway. 

Debbie and Carl had the same thought apparently and also stuck their heads out of their rooms.  
Fiona came out of her room too, "Everything's fine guys, just the wind threw a lamp over" she rolled her eyes.  
Ian frowned but went back to Mickey on his bed. 

Mickey had paused the Netflix show by now and lay on his back, staring at the ceiling of the room again - Ian had removed the poster that hung there ages ago. 

"Mick" Ian lay next to him and looked at him, Mickey looked back at him, "I want to sleep with you."  
Mickey raised his eyebrows, "Uhm... with all of your siblings listening?"  
"No, but they all go visit old friends tomorrow. I said I had to stay here to study."  
"You probably really do have to study." Mickey mumbled. 

Ian licked his lips, "It's okay if you don't want to yet, you can just say so, I don't mind."  
"No" he said quickly and sat up, "I want to have sex with you, trust me, I really do. It's just..."  
"What, are you a virgin?"  
"No, I already got fucked plenty" Mickey got defensive and crossed his arms in front of his chest, making Ian chuckle, "It's just been some time since the last time."  
"How long?"  
Mickey shrugged, "Feels like a decade" he mumbled, "It's been some years, I guess."  
Ian frowned and tried to do the math on that, Mickey was just seventeen like him, after all. 

"I can be gentle." Ian shrugged.  
"No, I want you to fuck me hard into the mattress, but that's not it." He shook his head and Ian laughed about how easily those words just left the boys mouth. 

"What is it then?" Ian sat up as well and kissed his cheek, "Come on, tell me."  
Mickey shrugged, "I just... I don't want you to see me... like that."  
"Like what? Naked?"  
Mickey shrugged. 

Mickey was very confident most of the time, so Ian sometimes forgot the boy was actually a little insecure about his looks (What was nuts in Ian's eyes) but in all the months they knew each other, Mickey hadn't even taken off his jacket once, no matter how hot or cold it was. 

"Mick, I think you are extremely handsome. There is nothing that could make me not attracted to you. What are you trying to hide from me?" He smiled and kissed his cheek again.  
Mickey still looked conflicted.  
"Okay, if you want to, we can keep the lights out this time." 

Mickey smiled shyly, "Really?"  
"What good would it do me if you feel uncomfortable while I fuck you? Also, if you were any other guy, I would have fucked you within the first five minutes of knowing you, so I'm at a point where I do everything just to get my hands on that body."  
Mickey smiled lovingly and kissed him again.


	7. Lights out

The next day, Mickey came around when it was already dark. Ian's siblings would be gone the whole night and not come back until noon the next day.

They at first had watched a movie, mainly because Ian needed to calm his and also Mickeys nerves.  
But luckily this didn't feel any different than usually, it wasn't awkward, even though both knew what would happen later on.

They kissed most of the time instead of paying attention to the screen, like always.

When the movie ended, they were already lying on top of each other on the mattress.

Ian quickly shut the laptop and put it down.  
He leaned over Mickey again and kissed him again.

Mickey usually wasn't shy about anything except his body for some goddamn reason, and as it turned out, he wasn't shy about sex either.

He apparently hasn't been lying when he said, he really wanted to have sex with Ian.  
He pushed Ian's shirt up and quickly pulled it off of him with Ian's help. Mickey licked his lips when he ran his hands over Ian's well-toned body and wished he could see more than some outlines of his body.

But he would take his time to marvel at his boyfriend's body another time then. He pulled him back down to kiss him again.

Ian took the chance to finally get that damn jacket off his boyfriend. He let it drop to the ground next to the bed and ran his hands up Mickeys arms - he was right, he had defined, toned arms. Mickey had once said that his knuckles were always bruised up because of "box training", while they clearly came from him beating someone up (Ian knew the difference).

Both boys got more and more impatient the longer the making out took. By now they were at each other's jeans, fumbling with buttons and belts, Mickey still had his shirt on - since it seemed to hide most of Mickeys insecurities, Ian waited to take it off until the end.

Mickey made it first to open Ian's pants and push them and his boxers down. Ian sat up properly, took his pants off and then freed Mickey out of his.

He leaned back over him and pecked his lips before lifting up the other boy's shirt and pulling it off, he threw it into the other corner of the room.

Mickey quickly pulled Ian down on him again, to make sure he didn't see anything despite the darkness.

Both boys were naked and hard by now, their cocks rubbed together between them, making them moan.  
Ian kissed down from Mickeys lips to his neck, to suck a hickey on his skin.

They suddenly heard a noise from the hallway.  
"What was that?" Ian whispered.  
"Nothing I'm sure, just the wind" Mickey panted.  
"Or maybe someone broke in"  
"Why would anyone break in? It's just the house, Gallagher. The wind."  
"You sure?"  
"Yeah, the house wants to stop me from getting laid obviously, and it seems to work right now." He mumbled.

Ian chuckled, "Alright, okay, I get it. Even if someone broke in, there is nothing valuable in here and I locked the door, so no one will disturb us either way."  
Mickey grinned, "Good, now please get to it, Gallagher." He leaned up and pecked his lips, "Or are you expecting me to beg for your cock?"

Ian chuckled and pushed Mickey back down into the pillows. He leaned over to his bedside table and took the lube out.

He lubed his fingers up and Mickey pulled his legs up. Ian leaned back over him and kissed his lips while bringing his fingers to his ass. He slowly pushed one finger in, Mickey ran his hands through Ian's hair and hooked his legs around his waist.

Mickey groaned lowly into the kiss when Ian pushed a second finger in and thrusted them in and out of his hole.

He finally had his boyfriend groaning and moaning lowly into his mouth. Ian wandered down to his neck again, sucking another hickey to be able to hear Mickey moaning properly when Ian crooked and scissored his fingers inside of Mickey.

Mickey arched his back and gently tugged on Ian's red hair, while the redhead worked him open quickly.

"Christ, why did we wait so long to do this?" Mickey groaned.  
Ian grinned and just kissed him passionately.  
"Fuck, okay, Ian I'm good, give me that dick"  
Ian chuckled, "You sure?"  
"Yes, come on"

Ian grinned and leaned over Mickey to grab something from his bedside table.  
He got a condom, opened it and quickly rolled it on in the dark.

Mickey couldn't get his hands off him, he let his hands run down Ian's chest and abs. Since it wasn't pitch black in the room but just night-time dark, he could make out Ian's body, his muscles and, as far as he could see, flawless soft skin.

Ian coated his dick in lube and repositioned between Mickeys legs, the Milkovich lay comfortably on some pillows, he hooked his legs around Ian's waist again. Theoretically, he could put one leg up on his shoulder, giving Ian better access, but this would do as well.

Ian slowly pushed in and groaned lowly while Mickey let out a loud moan feeling Ian inside of him more and more.  
Ian bottomed out and stilled for a moment, he panted and looked down at Mickey who had his head thrown back and panting as well.

"You good?" Ian mumbled while ghosting his lips over his skin.  
"Yeah, fuck, could be because I haven't been fucked in a while, but I think yours is the biggest dick I ever had."  
Ian chuckled, "You want me to go slow?"  
"No," Mickey put on hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down, "I want you to fuck me like there's no tomorrow."

Ian grinned and kissed him while starting to thrust in and out of him in a steady rhythm. He picked up his pace and after a few minutes fucked him with fast and hard thrusts.

Mickey had a hand between them, jerking himself off to Ian's thrusts.  
He ran his other hand down Ian's back to his ass and pushed him closer to him, making Ian fucking him harder.

There was another loud noise from the hallway disturbing them. Ian almost lost his rhythm over it.  
"Did you hear that?"  
"No, Don't stop, keep going" Mickey moaned.

Ian groaned when Mickey clenched around him and groped his ass.  
He tried to ignore the noises from the old house and kept fucking Mickey, both moaning and grunting.

Ian had never waited this long to fuck anyone, but damn it was worth it.  
The way Mickey moved underneath him, touched him, tugged on his hair, scratched on his back slightly, moaned and groaned and whispered his name - Ian had never been this turned on by any one before.  
Having sex with someone had never felt this special before.

"Fuck I'm coming" Mickey groaned, both had completely lost time, at least the only noise now was their skin slapping together and Mickeys moans and Ian's groans.  
"Me too" Ian mumbled and kissed him again, thrusting into him deep and hard.

A few minutes later Mickey came over his hand with a loud moan, fisting Ian's red hair tightly.  
Ian moaned as well, kissing him sloppily, while Mickey clenched around him. He kept fucking him rapidly, trying to get off himself. Mickey held on to him, digging his nails into his soft skin on his back and shoulders.

Ian came not long after Mickey deep inside of him. Ian moaned into Mickeys mouth, who gasped and groaned himself, holding on to his shoulder tighter.

They both panted and looked at each other. Ian grinned And leaned down to kiss him lazily again while coming down from his high.

He eventually pulled out of Mickey and threw the condom in the trash. Mickey took a tissue from the bedside table and cleaned himself off.

Ian lay down completely satisfied and looked up at Mickey.  
"That was fantastic" he grinned and reached up to touch Mickeys cheek, "You'll spend the night here with me, right? And won't just leave in the morning or in the middle of the night?"

Mickey smiled and nodded. He lay down next to Ian and rolled to the side, so he could place his head on Ian's freckled shoulder.

"I love you" Ian mumbled.  
"I love you too"


	8. Not as bad as it looks

Ian woke up cuddled up to Mickey, who lay with the back to him, they were spooning. Ian couldn't recall ever really wanting to spend whole nights and days with guys, wanting to cuddle them the whole night and wake up having them in his arms.  
But he couldn't imagine something better than waking up with Mickey by his side right now. 

He opened his eyes and smiled, putting a soft kiss on Mickeys neck, when something weird caught his eye. 

Ian scooted back an inch and looked at Mickey's back. His eyes widened in shock. Several bruises and small cuts were on his back, also some healed scars, some deeper than others, that Ian couldn't be sure about what might have caused them - a knife, a whip, rings? Some of the marks looked like they came from cigarettes. 

But what held his attention was a big wound underneath his right shoulder blade. It looked like someone had stabbed him, but the worst thing was, it didn't look like a scar, it looked like a gaping wound that never saw any medical care. Like someone had put a knife into Mickeys back, pulled it out and just left the hole there. But that couldn't be... Mickey would have died from that, right? And if not, there couldn't just be a hole in his body, there would be a scar. 

Ian swallowed hard and reached his hand out to touch the wound, the second his finger came in contact with the wound, Mickey flinched away from him and turned around. 

Panic lay in his eyes suddenly. Ian could barely concentrate on his boyfriend's facial expression, he was way too concerned about the state Mickey's body was in. 

Big bruises were all over his chest and stomach, some looked older than others, some looked fresh and blue and violet, some yellow and greenish. Even his arms were full of them, Ian could even make out handshapes. Something near Mickeys liver looked like he was kicked hard. 

"This is what you wanted to hide from me" Ian whispered, "Isn't it?"  
Mickey pulled the blanket up to his chin quickly and turned away from Ian, to grab his jacket next to the bed. He put it on and zipped it all the way up, before taking his boxers and putting them on too. 

"Hey, Mick, stop" Ian put a hand on Mickeys shoulder, "Who did this to you? Was it your dad?"  
"It's nothing Ian, just forget about it."  
"Nothing? You got beaten up, did a doctor have a look on a few of those kicks?"  
"Let it be, it's not as bad as it looks." 

Ian crawled to the side of the bed to sit next to Mickey.  
"It looks pretty fucking bad though! Did your dad do this? Is he hitting you? Because if yes, we can call some fucking child protective services or something! Or you can stay here and not go back there or-"  
"That's exactly why I didn't want you to see it!" Mickey sighed and got up, scooping his jeans off the ground, "I don't need your help! Everything is fine, I can handle this myself." 

"Handle this yourself? He could have killed you with this! I guess your bruised up knuckles don't come from box training either, right?"  
Ian took his boxers from the floor as well and put them on. 

"Leave it be Gallagher! I got this. No need to call fucking dcfs, okay?"  
Mickey was at the other side of the room now, looking for his shirt.  
Ian walked up to him and grabbed his wrists.  
"Mickey, stop! You don't have to handle this yourself, alright?" 

Mickey sighed, "Don't baby me, Ian. Don't fucking do that. Is my dad a fucking prick? Yeah. But I'm not some weak fag that can't help himself, alright? I'm not weak. I got this."  
Ian's look went soft. He understood what this was about. He let go of Mickeys wrists and instead hugged him.  
"You're not weak. But if you need my help, ever, you can say so, okay? I love you Mickey, I just want you to be okay." 

Mickey nodded and hugged him back.  
"Just promise me, that you will ask me for help if you need it okay?"  
"Okay, I promise. But like I said, it's really not as bad as it looks. It doesn't even hurt anymore. Can you just forget it?" He pulled back and looked pleadingly into his eyes. 

"How am I supposed to forget that?"  
Mickey bit his lip, "Just don't... don't treat me differently, like some raw fucking egg, or anything. like some kid who gets beat up by his dad now and again. Just don't. Please, Ian, I'm still your normal boyfriend I was last night." 

Ian sighed sadly but nodded.  
"Okay. Will you come back to bed with me? I want to keep cuddling you... and maybe get some morning sex out of you, if you don't mind."  
Mickey smiled, "Can I keep my jacket on?"  
Ian kissed his forehead and nodded.


	9. The Attic

Of course, Ian was concerned about Mickey's health and wouldn't forget about the injuries his lover had all over his body. Unfortunately, that led to Mickey sometimes refusing to take his shirt off during sex – what was sad for Ian, since he actually wanted Mickey to feel comfortable with him, but he couldn't just ignore Mickey's bruises.

As it turned out, Mickey was downright addicted to Ian's body once they started having sex. He still liked doing his algebra homework and teased him for his bad Spanish, but they were spending most of their time rolling around naked in Ian's bed.

"I woke up with another fucking bruise and I don't know where it came from", Fiona complained and ripped Ian out of his thoughts of naked Mickey riding him in his bed.

"Me too, and I've got fucking scratch marks on my chest. Maybe we have rats and they come out at night to play.", Lip growled and shoved his dinner into his mouth.

"Or it's really ghosts", Carl shrugged. The older siblings looked at the seven-year old.

"What? Could be. I think it would be cool to live in a house with ghosts!", Carl defended himself.

"Yes, ghosts that hurt us and throw us down the stairs, very funny.", Lip rolled his eyes, "No Carl, it's just an old house. Things break, and we probably just injure ourselves without noticing. Ghosts don't exist."

Carl rolled his eyes, "Or maybe they do! What if a serial killer lived here before and killed all his victims in the attic and now, they come and haunt us?"

"Why would they haunt us if we didn't kill them?", Debbie asked.

"Well, if none of you believe me, why don't you go up to the attic?"

"Why would we go to the attic?", Fiona asked.

"Cause it's creepy up there, but if you think ghosts don't exist, you wouldn't have a problem with going upstairs!"

A good hour later they stood in the hallway underneath the extensible attic ladder. Lip reached up to pull the string to get to the attic, but Debbie stopped him.

"Wait, what if... what if there are really ghosts and we set them all free by opening the way to the attic?"

"Debbie, there is no such thing as ghosts. And the realtor would have had to tell us if anyone died in here in the last years."

Ian rolled his eyes, "This is stupid, just pull the damn ladder out. I'm sure there is nothing up there but spiders and dust."

"Aren't you the one who always says, he hears weird noises all the time?", Lip asked, "Also from the attic?"

"Yeah, but just a few times from the attic. It's an old house, it makes all kinds of noises", Ian repeated Mickeys words .

"Can we just not go up there?", Debbie asked, "Just let it be, no matter if there are ghosts or not. I don't want the spiders to come down here either."

Lip sighed and looked at Fiona, who shrugged. But they eventually agreed to not open up the way to the attic and let the topic be.


	10. History

A few weeks later, Ian almost didn't notice Mickey when he entered his own room.  
Mickey sat on his bed and frowned when Ian just wordlessly came in and went straight to his desk without even looking up. Ian opened his laptop and still didn't notice Mickey.

This was unacceptable for the older boy, his boyfriend just flat-out ignored him!

Mickey cleared his throat and Ian jumped and turned around to him.

"Mickey", Ian sighed, "I didn't see you, you scared me man."  
Mickey frowned and got up from the bed.  
"Since when are you so jumpy?", he walked over to him and kissed his forehead.

"I don't know... this house starts to freak me out man. My siblings really think it's haunted"  
"Well that's bullshit. Ghosts don't exist, Ian."  
"I know. But it's weird though. All the injuries we had since we moved here, things breaking for no reason, and I could swear I hear footsteps or voices sometimes."

"All of you are fucking clumsy, things break, especially with three children in the house and old houses make weird noises. Ghosts don't exist, freckles."

"I know. Still, I want to know if anything ever happened in this house.", he pecked Mickey's lips and turned around to his laptop again.

"Uhm, what is your plan exactly?", Mickey asked nervously.  
"I'll google if there ever happened something newsworthy around this neighbourhood."

Mickey swallowed, "Don't you have homework or a test tomorrow or something?"  
"It's spring break."  
"Right... but I'm sure you have better stuff to do than spending your day researching a boring old house", Mickey was about to shut Ian's laptop, "And with stuff I mean _me_."

Ian grabbed his wrist, "Do you know something about this house?"  
"I?", Mickey cleared his throat, "No, look, it's just a normal house, nothing ever happened here. Now, could you please focus on your needy boyfriend over here?"  
"If it's such a normal house, why won't you let me google how normal it is?", Ian raised his eyebrows.  
Mickey licked his lip, "Why waste time? I could be on my knees sucking you off right now, but instead we're talking about a house."  
Ian shook his head and let go of Mickey's wrist, "Don't worry, I'll worship your ass in a minute, I just need to check this. It's driving me crazy."

"No!", Mickey insisted and quickly took the laptop away from his boyfriend.

"Mickey, don't be fucking childish, give it back", Ian rolled his eyes.  
"Okay, I'll tell you something about the house. But... just promise to not research any further, okay?"

Ian looked at him confused.  
"Why the hell not?"  
Mickey sighed, "Because... if you know all the details you might drag your family out of here as quick as possible and I don't want you to go? I can tell you what happened, but there are quite... gory photos on the internet that got... leaked by the police by accident. I can't imagine you would want to live here if you saw those. And I don't want you to leave me."  
Ian sighed and smiled softly, "I won't leave you, Mickey." 

Mickey put the laptop back on the desk and pulled Ian up and to the bed.  
They sat cross-legged on the bed across from each other.

"Okay, I don't know all the details. But apparently there was a family living here... a guy and his sons. He probably killed his wife before too, but that's just a rumour, actually. However... he was a prick... always drank too much, did all kinds of hardcore drugs, and then he would beat on his sons...", he looked at his fingers, "Sometimes going from... oldest to youngest, sometimes from youngest to oldest, sometimes just randomly picking one out who had to take all the beatings of the day. He loved torturing the kids, they say, the younger the better, cause they squeal better and louder... While the older ones stay quieter, cause they're used to it by now... So, it goes, uhm... one day he killed his youngest son during one of his outbursts. Apparently, that was what had the other brothers snapping and finally fighting back... But they didn't stand a chance... The father killed them all as some kind of twisted punishment for fighting back against him that one time, just that one time... It's said, that no one knew about it for weeks, that they were... forgotten, rottening.. until... At some point, the aunt came to the house to check on the boys... apparently she didn't hear from them in a while, what was odd. And she found their bodies and called the police. But the father was gone and never found, as far as I know. They looked for him all over the country, but no one ever saw him again."

Ian swallowed, his throat was dry. He looked around his room and shivered visibly.

"You're just kidding me, are you?", he asked hopefully.

"Would you feel better if I say I made it all up?"  
"Did you make it up?"

Mickey just looked at him and then looked at the blanket between them.

"Oh god", Ian mumbled and bit his bottom lip, frantically looking around the room.

"See, I knew you would react this way. But Ian, that was a long fucking time ago. Since then nothing happened in this house. Nothing will happen to you."  
"That's some creepy shit though."  
Mickey shrugged, "It's just how I know the story, how neighbourkids tell it as stupid story to use going to the house as bad dare, okay? I'm sure the fucking reporters blew it up and made it seem worse than it was."

"Where did they die?", Ian asked and looked around in his room.  
"Ian, you don't want to know. And I'm not going to tell you. That was some psychotic asshole being a murderer, it has nothing to do with this house, okay? The more you embrace the thought of it being haunted, the more it will seem haunted to you."

Ian sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"What about the attic?"  
"The attic?"

"Yeah, my siblings are obsessed with it, cause it's so creepy. Carl thinks a serial killer lived here and hung up his victims in the attic."  
Mickey chuckled, "I assure you, nothing like this happened. As far as I know, no bodies were ever found in the attic."

Ian nodded.

"Are we done with the topic now?" Mickey asked and crawled over to him to peck his lips.  
"Yeah... but I'm actually not really in the mood to fuck right now."

Mickey sighed and let his head hang low.

"Okay, I guess it would've been weird anyways if that would've turned you on.", he said and got up from the bed. He quickly went over to Ian's stereo and put some of his romantic music on before crawling into the bed again. He took his jacket off and lay down in the pillows, spreading his arms for Ian to come up to him and cuddle with him.

Lying in Mickey's arms and being cuddled by him always was a little bit funny. Ian's head rested on Mickey's shoulder and because he was so much taller than him anyways, Mickey's feet pretty much just reached the middle of Ian's shins, if even. It was adorable.


	11. Monster

A few weeks later, Ian was alone with Debbie, Carl and Liam. He went downstairs to the kitchen, without looking up from his phone.

He got something to drink and a glass and turned around to the kitchen table.

He almost let the glass fall at the sight in front of him - there sat a girl at their kitchen table.

She couldn't be older than six or seven, she had long, black hair and wore a simple black dress, but it looked old, at least 10 years or something, with small holes in it, and mud on it.

But that wasn't what had him stopping.

She looked fucking creepy, her eyes were bloodshot and her arms and especially her neck were covered in bruises, some in handshapes - They awfully reminded him on Mickeys bruises.

Ian looked at her and tried not to freak out completely, when the backdoor opened.

"Oh, hey Ian. This is Mandy." Debbie smiled and sat next to her.

Mandy, Mickeys little sister. Ian looked at her again, at the bruises around her thin neck and thought about Mickeys injuries. Their dad really was a monster.

"Oh, hey Mandy" Ian said.

Mandy just waved at him.

"She doesn't talk much." Debbie explained, "But see, I told you she is real!"

Mandy got up from her chair at the table and walked over to Ian. The boy couldn't help but feel weirded out by her, what was probably really unfair towards the little girl.

Mandy held out an object for him, it seemed to be a folded photo or something.

"Uhm, thanks" Ian mumbled and took it from her.

Mandy showed a toothy smile and went back to Debbie at the table.

Ian unfolded the picture and smiled. It was a picture of Mickey and some guys that could be his brothers.

Ian wondered, if Mickey had told Mandy about their conversations, because she picked a photo that was taken in summer and showed Mickey in a tank, toned arms beautifully on display without the bruises that now where, sadly, familiar to him.

Ian was sure that at the time the photo was taken, the father already started beating his sons, one of his brothers had a black eye, and Mickey had a small cut on his cheek, but Mickey had once told him, that their father over the years learned to only hit him where no one could see. Because of that at least his face was uninjured every time they met.

"Thank you, Mandy." Ian mumbled and smiled at her, "So what are you two planning to do now?"

"We go upstairs and play with my Legos. Maybe Carl wants to play with us."

Ian heard the front door opening and not long after Fiona and Lip came into the kitchen.

"No, we're moving out as soon as possible!" Fiona insisted.

"What why?" Ian asked, "Can we talk about this later, not when Mandy is here."

"Mandy?" Fiona asked, "Are you starting with that too now, Ian? Mandy is just Debbie's imaginary friend!"

"What? She sits right there" Ian said confused and looked over to the table.

Mandy sat there and started giggling creepily.

"Can't you see her?" Ian asked his siblings.

"There is just Debbie, Ian." Lip said concerned.

Ian looked at the table again and Mandy was suddenly gone again.

"What? Where is she? She was right there a second ago!"

"Yeah, she does that sometimes" Debbie shrugged.

Ian looked around the kitchen, real fear crept up his spine now.

"That's it, I told you, we move out!" Fiona said and put a stack of papers on the kitchen counter.

"What's that?" Ian asked.

"Research about all the shit that went down in this house that the realtor didn't tell me!"

Ian swallowed and took some of the papers, printed news articles and photos. He just read the headlines.

**Girl (7) found dead in abandoned house**

**Child-Killer still on the run - police is clueless**

**10 year anniversary of Mandy M.'s death - still no trace of the killer**

**4 Boys found dead in Murderhouse**

**Father still on the run**

**After 20 years police is still clueless**

Ian's eyes widened at the headlines, Mickey had told him the story of the father killing his sons, but not about the girl.

But worse, under one of the headlines about the girl's death was a photo printed, a little girl with long dark hair, a school photo, probably - but Ian was almost sure, that exactly this girl sat at his kitchen table not a second ago.

"Here, one of them even died in your room, Ian! We move out!" Fiona said and showed him the article and photos she meant.

Ian's head stopped working for a moment. He forgot how to breath, while staring at four portrait photos of the murdered sons. He felt vomit coming up his throat when he saw the photo of a boy lying in his room in a pool of blood, it must be a leaked crime scene picture.

The boy in the photos looked like Mickey.

Like his Mickey.

Suddenly one of the drawers next to them opened loudly and was thrown shut again.

Fiona let out a little yelp and it happened again, then cabinet doors started opening and closing rapidly and Ian could swear he heard Mandy's creepy giggle again.

It only lasted a few seconds before it was silent in the kitchen again, but Fiona held tightly on to her brother, obviously freaked out.

"Don't be afraid, Fi." Debbie tried to calm her, "It was just Mandy, she likes to scare people sometimes."

Ian couldn't stand this anymore. He let the papers in his hand fall to the ground and ran upstairs to his room.

He closed the door and leaned against it, panting heavily.

"I'm sorry" a voice said suddenly, and Ian jumped and scooted away from where the voice came from.

Mickey stood in the middle of his room.

"I wanted to tell you, Ian." He mumbled.

"Tell me?" He repeated, "Tell me what? That you're dead?"

Mickey swallowed visibly, " You weren't supposed to find out about it like this."

"This is a nightmare" Ian exhaled deeply and sunk down against the door.

"Ian, Please, I love you, this doesn't have to change anything" Mickey begged and slowly came closer.

Ian shook his head, "This isn't real! I'm going fucking crazy! This is just some evil nightmare and I'm gonna wake up and you're gonna be gone and I have my fucking normal boyfriend back again, who isn't a fucking dead monster!", he yelled at him. He put his head between his knees and squeezed his eyes shut.

Mickey took a step back, "If you wanted me to leave you could have just said so."

Ian heard how sad Mickey sounded, how deeply hurt. After all, that was still his boyfriend he was talking about, and while he was sure he was going crazy and belonged into the next psych ward, he didn't mean to hurt and insult him.

"No, Mick wait", but when he looked around the room Mickey was already gone.


	12. June 2006

**Girl (7) found dead in abandoned house**

**Child-Killer still on the run - police is clueless**

**10 year anniversary of Mandy M.'s death - still no trace of the killer**

**4 Boys found dead in Murderhouse**

**Father still on the run**

**After 20 years police is still clueless**

_"who isn't a fucking dead monster!"  
"If you wanted me to leave you could have just said so."_

Ian lay in his bed, it's been three days and by now Ian was sure he wasn't dreaming, but he still couldn't believe it... his boyfriend was dead.  
He was dead... a fucking... ghost.

Mickey hadn't shown himself since Ian called him a monster. 

Mickey didn't do anything bad, he was a normal, nice, smart boy, he was his boyfriend and he loved him- and he was dead... killed... ten years ago.

Ian had too many weird and mixed feelings about the situation - he just knew, that he missed Mickey. 

When he was alone in the house he would walk through the whole building and call his name, or just sit in his room and ask the emptiness in front of him, if Mickey could come back.

Ian looked at the picture Mandy gave him yet again. 

Mickey looked so beautiful, smiling brightly. He looked exactly like he did whenever he visited him.

He turned the picture around like so often to read the date again.

_June 2006  
_

Mickey probably didn't die long after this. 

Ian didn't dare to read the articles about his murder, he couldn't. He didn't want to think about the fact, that he fell in love with a dead man. And he didn't want to think about the fact that learning he was dead hurt as much as if he would have been alive and died now.

Ian put the picture on his nightstand and leaned it against his lamp. 

He just wanted to see him again and talk to him.

"I'm sorry Mickey" he whispered. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been two weeks without a sign from Mickey, and Ian was on edge. 

Fiona however let herself be calmed down by Lip and Debbie. They didn't have the money to move right now, and Lip held a very convincing speech about Ghosts not existing, neighbourhood kids just playing pranks on them and wind opening cabinets.

If Ian wouldn't have had sex with one of those ghosts himself, he maybe even would have believed Lip.

This evening however, the Gallaghers were out to visit Kev and V again, Fiona hated the house by now and didn't want to spend more time than necessary here.

Ian insisted on staying home alone. He told a lie about studying and important school stuff and pretty much shoved his siblings out of the front door.

As soon as they were gone, Ian took a deep breath. 

"Mickey?" Ian called through the house and started walking through it again, "Mickey, if you're an actual ghost or... something like that, you should be able to just appear and disappear here right? So, fucking... appear again! I'm sorry for what I've said, Mick!" He walked upstairs, "I didn't mean it! Come here, we can just... talk about it, please! Baby..." He tried it with a pet name at last, "I still love you... please come back."

Ian sighed and went to his room again.

He closed the door and leaned his head against it, with his back to the room.

"Hey, Ian" a voice said quietly. 

Ian turned around quickly. 

Mickey sat on his bed.

"Mickey" Ian sighed relieved and ran over to the bed to hug him tightly, "I almost thought you wouldn't come back at all."

"What, am I not allowed to hold a little grudge? You called me a monster."

Ian closed his eyes and sat across from him, "I'm sorry" he looked at him again, "I was just shocked... I mean I don't find out that my boyfriend is dead and a ghost every day, Mick, I'm sorry... you aren't a monster, I know that."

Mickey shrugged, "Maybe I am. I'm dead and yet walk around here. Qualifies as monster, doesn't it?"

Ian leaned closer to him again and put one hand on his cheek. Mickey slowly closed his eyes and leaned into his touch. Ian kissed him softly.

"A monster couldn't make me feel so loved.", he whispered.

"Well, you don't know what I did, so..."

Ian put both hands on Mickeys cheeks.

"Your dad is the monster for doing this to you. It was him wasn't it?"

Mickey sighed and turned away from him, he sat further back on the bed, "Thought you read the articles."

Ian shook his head, "I couldn't... wouldn't read about you being murdered in this house, Mick. But I want you to tell me."

"Why? I already told you the story."

"There was no Mandy in your story. Is she really your sister?"

Mickey opened his mouth and closed it again, he looked away but nodded.

"I want you to tell me everything.", Ian scooted up to where Mickey sat and looked at him sadly, "I deserve that much, don't I?"

Mickey sighed and swallowed.

"Okay."

He leaned back into the pillows and looked up at the ceiling.

Ian lay down next to him. 

"Mandy is my sister. But... She isn't as much younger than me as she looks... She isn't just my little sister... she's my twin." He whispered and cleared his throat, "We were always very close, I always tried to protect her from our dad, but I couldn't... Dad killed our mom, he, uh... he beat her, too, I barely have a memory of her not crying or bruised up, I used to make her tea whenever Terry did it again, she always smiled and said it helped... It didn't, obviously, even though she was hurting she tried to make us feel better until... She hung herself in our old house. I know, that doesn't technically count as 'killed by our dad', but it was his fault.", Mickey had only talked about his motehr once before, told him about her cookig and also about the tea... not about her death.

"Then we moved here. Until then my mom used to get the most beatings, because she protected us. Now no one protected us... He started with Jamie, then Collin, Iggy, me. Beat on us, when he was drunk... But nothing that he did to us compared what he did to Mandy... At first, we thought, we made it to protect her, you know?. He never, never beat her up like he did with us, we thought, we could... somehow keep him away from her.", He shook his head, "There were things... that he did to mom, that he couldn't do to us... I, uh... I remember watching the news back then... and the news anchor talked about... a string of rapings that were happening in our neighbourhood, I remember it, because... because my dad started bragging, you know, that _he_ did it. He called the police stupid idiots that would never get him, and that a man needs to get his rocks off somehow and if the sluts aren't willing to do it, he had to make them do it... That's how life works... I did some research on this years later, because I couldn't forget about his words. It turned out those rape victims... they got younger and younger... then it stopped happening suddenly." He still stared at the ceiling, not daring to look at Ian, "Then it started... the noise... at night. You live in this house, I don't have to tell you, that you can hear from this room when someone does so much as walking the stairs up and down... What do you think how well you can hear a little girl screaming her lungs out and crying... pleading...? It's a noise you don't forget, ever."

Ian stared at his boyfriend, he lay down next to him and wrapped an arm around him, he used the thumb of his other hand to wipe a tear from Mickeys cheek, Mickeys eyes fluttered shut and he took a deep breath. 

"We couldn't do anything about it. No matter what we tried, locking her door at night... I slept in her room and pushed something in front of the door. But... but he would find a way in anyways, and if not, he would just do it the next night after spending the day making sure I couldn't move enough to try stopping him anymore. But what were we supposed to do anyways? All alone? Mandy and I were 5 when it started, Iggy seven, Collin 8 and Jamie 10. What were we supposed to do? We were terrified of him.... One day... I was six.. and he just... He woke us up, yelled at us, made us pack our things, put us into the car and drove off to Mexico. Without Mandy... He never told us why or where she was..."

Ian bit his bottom lip. 

"He... He strangled her, didn't he?" Ian whispered, remembering the awful marks on Mandy's throat. 

Mickey nodded. 

"So, you didn't lie, that you and your family lived in Mexico for a while." Ian mumbled just trying to get the image of little Mandy out of his head.

Now Mickey looked at him. 

"I never lied to you. Okay, I said ghosts don't exist or that the noises are just the house. But I never lied when I told you something about me."

Ian cuddled into his side and closed his eyes.

"What happened after you went to Mexico?" 

"We lived there" Mickey said simply, "He got more and more into drug biz, dragged Jamie with him, made him addicted to the stuff... I learned Spanish and got me some friends who taught me more Spanish and let me read their school notes. Dad, of course, never bothered enrolling us into school in Mexico or make us any kind of citizens there. Technically, it was a long vacation. But I always thought... I hoped I could get out one day, you know? I tried to keep up with the school stuff while not actually attending school, so I could go back to America and finish school here... get a degree and get the fuck out. Get a boyfriend... husband family, Work a legal job, all of that... Ijust... I just wanted a normal life, have what I never had, give someone a life I always wanted... I was a naive, stupid child."

To Ian, Mickey had always seemed happy. He had thick walls of sarcasm and snarls, but he was soft inside, a loving boy that could get excited easily about music and really just doing anything, even homework.

Only just now, Ian understood that Mickey was actually a broken boy, whose dreams and hopes were ripped away from him so violently. He had no idea, how Mickey managed to be such a decent person towards him, loving and warm, comforting. 

"The beatings didn't stop, obviously. It was then, in Mexico, that I found out that this wasn't normal. That the other children weren't beaten by their dads. When we still lived here, I of course went to school and had contact to other kids, but I just... I thought we just never talked about it, you know?... But as it turned out... it didn't happen to other kids, it wasn't normal, our father wasn't...", he let out a shaky breath, "By the time I had my first crush on one of my friends, I was already filled up with sexist, racist, homophobic beliefs and slurs. Needless to say, accepting that I was gay wasn't easy...fuck, I shoved that thought away from me, tied it down in my head... I knew, dad would kill me. Hell, He called me faggot and beat us up when we did so much as wince while he beat us black and blue. So I told myself... just wait. One day, you'll get out and then you can be like that... just survive until then..." 

Ian looked up at him, he put a hand on his cheek again, caressing his skin. He wanted to cry hearing his boyfriend like this... hearing all those dreams he used to have that were lost now... 

"We came back here in 2006." Mickey whispered, turned his head to look at the picture on Ian's nightstand, he almost smiled, " Where did you find that picture?"

"Mandy gave it to me."

Mickey sighed, "Was our last day in Mexico. Back then we still thought, that going back to the house meant, seeing Mandy again... That we would go back to her."

Ian sat up suddenly and looked down at him.

"You didn't know that she..."

Mickey shook his head, "I guess, we kind of... we knew it deep inside.... I felt it. But we made up all kinds of theories, that she ran away from home and dad took us to Mexico because of it... Or that he simply didn't want to take her with us and left her with our aunt, but... But he didn't."

"How... how did you find out then?" 

"We got back around her 10 year death anniversary. It was all over the news. All this time in Mexico, we lived in a dream world where at least Mandy was safe, where she maybe wasn't with us, but at least didn't got hurt anymore. And then it turned out, she was dead all along... We moved back into the house. It was a risky stunt my dad pulled. Especially when the death anniversary was all over the news. But I managed to reenrol into high school, like I planned." 

"I can imagine you were a brilliant student." 

Mickey scoffed and smiled at him, "I was crap. I didn't go to a proper school for 10 years, Gallagher. I couldn't keep up with anything, especially not algebra."

"Why are you so good at it now?" 

"You remember, that I once said, I get home-schooled and it felt like I read the same math books for a decade? That's what I did. The past years I read all of my schoolbooks so many times, I know all of the information by heart. It was the only thing to do around here. That's why I was so excited to do your homework, it was the first new thing to do in years."

Ian smiled and kissed his cheek. 

"But... if you survived this long... how ... I mean... what happened then?"

Mickey stopped smiling again and sighed.

"I saw Mandy.", he looked down, "Little twin sister... at first, I thought I was dreaming... I woke up and saw her for a split second, or saw her in the corner of my eye when I thought I was alone. Until one night I woke up in the middle of the night and... and there she was. She sat on my bed, in a bloody, torn nightgown, hair all wild, eyes bloodshot and bruises around her neck... arms... legs. I almost pissed myself when I saw her, not gonna lie... In contrast to me, you react pretty chill to the ghost thing."

"Yeah, because I fell in love with you before I knew, and you don't exactly look very creepy."

"She did." Mickey shrugged, "after that I tried to stay up all hours of the night to see her again, I wanted to know if she was real, talk to her. She didn't appear. But I went out and bought her a dress I thought she might like... I had no clue how the ghost thing worked and if a ghost can just change clothes, but I did it anyways, I didn't want her to have to wear that nightgown anymore. I bought that dress and I put it on my bed and pretty much just... just started talking until she appeared again. She was shy, she didn't mean to freak me out so much the first time and she felt bad about it. She was happy about the dress... I cleaned her up, brushed her hair." He shrugged and ran his hand through Ian's red hair, "She wouldn't talk at first. It took me weeks to get her to talk to me. But she listened a lot. So, I started talking... about our life without her. How much we missed her, I told her about Mexico and school... I told her about my crush on that one boy. I felt better about being gay just through talking to her about it. Finally, she also answered, we talked, I played games with her... I hated my dad, always hated him, but when I fully grasped what he did to Mandy, all of it, and that he killed her? I was in so much rage... One night, he... He was drunk again. It was my turn to be beaten up again, he loved beating me up the most. Said, I was half a girl because I shared the womb with one. It was not so different than on the other evenings he beat me up. He called me a pussy and a faggot, cock loving whore and like my mum - and he didn't even know I was gay at the time... But that night I got angry, I got really angry. And that night I decided to fight back. Until that point, I just held back, did nothing, I sat it out so I would survive it and be able to run away one day. But I was at a point where I didn't care anymore. So, when he sent me to the kitchen to get him a beer... I got a knife instead."

Ian bit his lip, "The wound on your back..."

"I should have known I couldn't stand a chance. I tried to stab him, but he fought back, he got a hold of the knife and I just ran. He blocked the way to the door, so I ran upstairs, he was chasing after me. I called my... my brothers... for help, you know? But dad got me in my room... here.", he looked around the room, pain on his face, his voice was quieter when he kept talking, "He hit me and kicked me until I lay on the ground. My brothers stood in the doorway, it was the first time one of us tried to run away or fight back, they were shocked that it was me of all people... He tried to stab me with the knife, I tried to get away from him so desperately he just made it to cut my back a few times... That's when my brothers finally stepped in. They tried at least, they started with telling my dad off. Asking him to stop, but of course he wouldn't listen, so... They eventually came and tried to shove him off. Tried to get the knife from him. I... I don't know why we never helped each other before, never tried to stop him... but now we at least tried. Needless to say, there was nothing they could do. He... he, uhm... sat on my back, trapped me... and then he... He rammed that knife into me with such force... as if he had waited to do that for seventeen years" he exhaled deeply.

Ian squeezed his eyes shut and wrapped his arm around Mickey's waist again, trying to hold him and comfort him somehow.

"What about your brothers?" He whispered.

"I don't remember anything after that. I woke up... I don't know when... it must had been a week later. My brothers woke up around the same time, all in my room. Dad had killed them too, as punishment for acting out, for trying to help me. Our bodies were in the room too, slowly rotting there... I can say, the most traumatic experience I ever made, was waking up next to my own corpse.", he sighed again.

"What about your dad? When you told me that story before, you said, no one ever saw him again." 

Mickey's facial expression changed. It went from sad and exhausted to... angry, vengeful... "Oh, we did see him alright. We can leave this house exactly twice a year. Our death day and on Halloween. So, we tracked that bastard down. It didn't take us long to find him. We knew his hiding spots... you called me a monster and maybe you're right... we tortured him. Took a whole day and night to torture him... skinned him layer for layer, burned and stabbed and raped him with a firepoker until he cried and whined and begged us to kill him... but we didn't, he didn't deserve that yet... No, we just, we let him there to rod and starve. They still didn't find his body yet."

Ian looked up at him.

"You're not a monster." Ian whispered, "Your dad deserved that and worse." He turned on his back, lying side by side with Mickey, "You died 2007."

"Shortly before my 18th birthday, yeah." 

"That's 12 years. All alone here, just with your brothers? Without electronics, anything to do? How did you not become completely crazy?"

Mickey shrugged.

"We saved us some games and hid them in the attic together with some clothes and I sure as fuck, wouldn't let the police take my music away. Not that it mattered, since we didn't have a stereo or electricity. When I gave you my CDs it was the first time that I could listen to it in 12 years. But yeah, I slept a complete year or two."

"Slept?" 

"Ghosts don't need sleep... because, you know, we're dead. But we can sleep. Until we want to wake up. I love being woken up by you, so when I sleep next to you, I always sleep until you wake me up."

"That's kinda cute, actually." Ian smiled and looked back at him. 

"My brothers make this harder that it has to be as well... They blame me for their death... I mean, not really, they don't punish me or beat me or whatever shit My dad would do... But if they're bored, they tease me about it. Annoy me and say that they blame me. They're just kidding but still... They're little shitheads and don't know when to stop." 

"What does that mean?" Ian asked. 

"Those weird noises that you hear all the time? They try to freak you out. They're bored. That's like what your homework was for me, first shit to do in 12 years."

Mickey lay on the side and looked at Ian. He put one hand on his cheek. 

"You know... if you tell me that you don't want to be with me anymore and want me to leave you alone forever, I will. But... you have to believe me that I love you so much and I never wanted you to know this... you deserve a normal boyfriend." 

Ian lay on the side as well and ran a hand through his hair, " You are as normal as I need it, Mick. I still love you, baby. And I want to be with you."

Ian leaned in and pecked his lips. 

"Can you just lie here with me and sleep with me?" Mickey mumbled.

"Of course, Mick." 


	13. The worst part

Ian lay awake almost the whole night. He had to think about everything Mickey had said. The boy just wanted a way out, wanted to be free, away from his dad. He could be 30 by now, married even. Instead he was brutally killed after a life of abuse, and trapped in a house, with reading algebra books as only activity.

But he was certain, that Mickey really, sincerely loved him. Alone telling him about all this crap with his family, showed how much Mickey trusted the ginger.

And Ian was in love with him. Mickey was still the same boy he was two weeks ago. He was the exact same person, just that Ian now knew that he was technically not alive. But maybe that didn't have to matter, not yet.

Ian woke up around noon with Mickey in his arms. 

He gently kissed his forehead and ran a hand through Mickeys black hair. 

The boy had his head on Ian's chest, body halfway draped over Ian, as if he wanted to make sure, Ian wouldn't just get up and leave.

Ian ran his hand down Mickeys back, he was wearing a t shirt and just some boxers. Ian could see his perfect bubble butt and grinned.

"Mickey, wake up" Ian whispered and kissed his forehead again.

"Just because I don't need sleep, doesn't mean I don't like doing it, Gallagher" Mickey mumbled.

Ian chuckled, "It's almost noon, already."

He leaned further down to catch his lips in a kiss.

Mickey seemed to wake up quicker from that, he responded to the kiss and scooted closer, so Ian didn't have to almost break his neck to kiss him.

Ian pulled Mickey on top of him.

"Hey" he stopped the kiss and looked at him, " How far up on the necrophilia scale would some morning sex be?"

Mickey rolled his eyes but grinned down at him, "You're fucking me, not a corpse, Gallagher. I move, I talk, I think, I suck your dick, it's not necrophilia. I can even mimic a heartbeat."

Ian grinned up at him and groped his ass and started rubbing it against his dick. Mickey copied the movement quickly, so Ian could take his hands off of him and instead take his shirt off.

At least Ian felt a little better about Mickeys injuries since he knew, that they were already a couple of years old and didn't hurt him anymore.

Ian got hard pretty quickly with Mickey on top of him and impatiently pushed both their boxers down their legs.

Mickey leaned down to kiss him, when Ian yet again heard a noise from the attic. 

He looked up at the ceiling concerned.

"I'm not sure if it calms me down to know that it's actually ghosts that make these noises." He mumbled.

"Don't worry, it's just my brothers trying to drive me mad. It is nothing against you."

"Really?" Ian asked slightly confused. 

"They're trying to cockblock me pretty much since the first time we almost kissed."

Ian laughed and pulled him back down for a kiss. 

He made quick work with lubing his fingers up and working Mickey open.

"You know what two very good things about being more or less dead are?"

"Which ones?"

"No matter how often you fuck me, I can always go another round. And you can't get STDs from me, apart from the fact that I'm clean, so we don't need a rubber."

Ian raised his eyebrows at him.

"We can use one though if you insist" Mickey chuckled at his expression.

"No, let's do it like this." He grinned, "But minding this information, you could have told me about the ghost thing sooner." He quickly lubed his cock up.

Mickey laughed lightly, "Pervert."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Both boys were panting and slowly coming down from their highs.

Mickey looked down at him and smiled, he leaned down and kissed him playfully, before taking a tissue and cleaning up the mess Mickey made when he came over Ian's chest.

Ian slowly pulled out of him and ran his hands down his back.

Mickey lay on top of him and Ian placed small kisses on his face.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"When I saw Mandy for the first time. I could see her, Debbie could see her, but Fi and Lip couldn't. why?"

Mickey chuckled, "She's a child. She likes fucking with people's heads sometimes. We can choose who sees us when. Right now, for example, your siblings could come in here and see me. But whenever I sleep here, I make myself invisible for them, but not from you. See, like this", he grinned and suddenly was gone from on top of him.

At least Ian couldn't see him anymore, but he still felt his body weight on top of him and giggled when Mickey kissed his neck playfully.

"I can also just vanish out of your perception. You couldn't see me or hear me or feel me, but I'm still here." He whispered into his ear and in the next moment Mickeys body weight was also gone.

Ian sat up and looked around grinning, "Okay, come back here."

Mickey reappeared next to him, hands resting on his shoulder, his head on his hands and he grinned up at him.

Ian quickly grabbed his hips and lay him down on the bed underneath him.

"That's actually pretty cool."

"If you say so, Freckles" he shrugged, "Even that gets boring after some time."

Ian pecked his lips.

He looked down at his body and let one hand wander over his chest and stomach with the bruises.

"I think I know what the worst of this is" Ian mumbled.

"Oh, you can pinpoint that from all the bad stuff it brings? What is it? That I can't leave the house, that I won't age, that I'll never be able to make anything out of myself? That I will never be able to get married or have kids? Enlighten me, what's the worst part?"

Ian looked down at him sadly, "I will never be able to see you uninjured. You will always be hurt. I thought..." he started tracing the marks on Mickeys chest and arm again, "I thought as soon as I finished school, I could get you out of your house and away from your dad and go with you somewhere where you can... heal. But that's never going to happen.", he mumbled.

Mickey licked his bottom lip and looked down at Ian's fingers over a bruise.

"Oh" he whispered, "Yeah, I guess that's pretty bad too."

A feeling of helplessness suddenly overwhelmed Ian. Not being able to help Mickey always felt bad, but the thought that he could never see him not hurt, was too much. And Mickey brought up even more points. Mickey could never leave this house, they could never go somewhere together, not on a date, not move out and together into a place that could be just theirs, all of the dreams Mickey had, that he told him about, being normal, getting out, marriage, having kids, it would never happen, not with Ian, not with anyone. Mickey was trapped in here and Ian couldn't do anything to change the situation as it was.

"Hey, Ian, don't cry", Mickey mumbled softly. Ian hadn't noticed tears filling his eyes and now one escaped and ran down his cheek, where Mickey gently rubbed it away with his thumb. 

"Sorry" Ian mumbled and blinked a few times. 

"It's okay" Mickey pecked his cheek, "I'm okay, yeah? And you will be okay too."

Ian nodded and hid his face in the crook of Mickeys neck, lying still on top of him.

Mickey slowly rubbed over his back. 

"Everything will be okay."


	14. Show yourselves

It's been almost two months since Ian saw Mandy for the first time and found out that his boyfriend was dead.

Even though Lip had managed to calm Fiona down to a degree where she didn't take all their stuff and immediately ran away, she still wanted to move out. Now Ian of course was heavily against it.

He wouldn't just leave Mickey here all alone again. He wanted to be with him as long as possible, but even more he wanted Mickey to be happy, and slowly rotting in this house with just his teasing brothers and kid sister as company, without being able to do anything than reading old schoolbooks, wasn't exactly anyone's definition of happy.

The problem was, that Mickeys brothers wanted the Gallaghers to leave. Mickey had told him that much, and Ian had noticed it himself too. The small accidents that all of the Gallaghers except Debbie and Ian had, got worse and more often. Also, they found more and more injuries when they woke up without knowing where they came from. The lights went on and off, things disappeared.

Mickeys brothers wanted the house to themselves again, it was theirs, in their eyes.

"Can't you talk to them?" Ian asked, he and Mickey lay on Ian's bed, listening to Mickeys music, the Milkovich had his head on Ian's chest.

"I already tried. I told them to stop, but they won't listen. The only thing that I could make them promise, was to let you alone and to not almost kill any of you, like when they pushed Lip down the stairs. But they probably plan on scaring your family out of this house."

"But why?"

"Because it's our house" Mickey shrugged, "How would you feel if you live in a house and suddenly new people move in even though you're still there."

"Yeah, but we didn't know about you. Or see you."

Mickey shrugged, "Did I pretend, my brothers were smart?"

Ian chuckled.

"But if it goes on like this, Fiona will really try to get us out of here. And I don't want to leave you."

Mickey took Ian's hand, that rested on his stomach, "It's okay, Ian. Even if you move out, you could come back to the house every once in a while, and tell me all about your life. Also, your relationship to a dead guy, won't make your sister stay in this house a minute longer."

Ian sighed, "I know. She would freak out. But... isn't there a chance to talk to your brothers and find a way that we can live here all together?"

"Yeah, that sounds like something everyone in my and your family would be thrilled about" Mickey rolled his eyes, "No it's probably better if you move out. Somewhere where no one spies on Fiona under the shower."

Ian blinked a few times.

"Your brothers spied on my sister under the shower?", he exclaimed.

"Just once as far as I know, and I beat him up for that, don't worry. But in his opinion, he could do it, just because I do it"

Now Ian sat up, Mickey made a growling noise at the sudden movement and lay further down into Ian's lap instead of sitting up himself.

Ian looked down at him, smirking, "You spied on me under the shower?"

Mickey swallowed and licked his lips, "Just once or twice, I swear. Not my fault okay?"

Ian chuckled, "And how is it not your fault?"

Now Mickey grinned smugly up at him.

"You know, when you say any of our names, the one can hear that no matter where he is? No matter how you say it. If you call me, or talk about me with your siblings... or moan my name under the shower... in your sleep..."

Ian felt himself blushing heavily.

"And I of course always want to know why you're calling me. So, you should appreciate that I only watched you once or twice under the shower from all the numerous times you called me there.", Mickey sat up and grinned at him.

"Well" Ian grinned and ran a hand through Mickeys hair, "Next time you hear me during that, you should move your perfect little ass to me, so I can fuck you in the shower"

Mickey licked his lip at the thought and quickly attacked him with a kiss, what had Ian chuckling again.

Suddenly they heard a scream from downstairs and separated again.

Some other noises came from downstairs and Ian and Mickey looked at each other confused.

"Was that Fi?" Ian asked.

"How should I know, it's your sister, you have to know what she sounds like. But I told those shitheads to not hurt them!", he said angrily.

Ian sucked in a breath surprised when something caught his eye, Mickey turned around and saw Mandy standing there.

"Mandy, I said, don't come into my room when I'm here with Ian" Mickey said softly and sat on the edge of the bed. Mandy walked towards him.

Mickey moved his head down so she could whisper something in his ear.

Mickey quickly stood up.

"Ian, come with me. Mandy, you stay up here, okay?"

A bit confused Ian got up and ran after Mickey out of the room.

The two boys ran down the stairs, the Gallaghers had never seen Mickey before and Ian wasn't sure what Mickeys goal was with running into their Livingroom right now.

Downstairs in the living room Fiona was on the couch screaming while it looked like someone was pulling her hair, but Ian couldn't see anyone. Lip stood pressed up against a wall, struggling against the air and Carl, Debbie and Liam stood together in the other corner of the room, they seemed okay.

"Ian!" Fiona yelled at him, "Help us!"

"Mick, what is going on?"

Mickey stood in the middle of the room, staring around, anger displayed on his face.

"Guys fucking stop!" He yelled around the room, earning weird looks from Ian's siblings, "You're making fools out of yourselves! Show your-fucking-selves, you dickheads!"

It only took a few moments for three men to appear in the living room.

The one who was holding Lip against the wall must be Jamie, the oldest of his brothers. He had a gaping wound on his neck, Terry must've stuck the knife through his neck until it came out on the other side again, because Ian almost thought, he could see through the hole and see the dining table that was somewhere behind Jamie.

Next to the couch, pulling Fiona's hair must be Iggy, throat slit from one side to the other, and on the couch almost leaned over Fiona had to be Collin, a knife was still stuck in his eye.

Ian almost got sick when he saw them.

"Let her go!", Mickey pushed Colin away from Fiona and Iggy let go of her hair, leading to Fiona just squealing and pulling her legs close on the couch, not sure where to stare in shock.

"Jamie, you too! What the hell, guys?"

Jamie let go of Lip who made a choking noise and coughed a few times. Ian ran over and helped him stand up.

"And you take that knife out, it's not in there for years anymore and that's not even the right one, you moron", he pulled the knife out of Collins eye unimpressed but annoyed.

"Are you completely out of your mind?", Mickey yelled at them. Jamie came over to the other two brothers.

Iggy just sighed and draped himself over the couch.

"Relax, Mickey. We were just having fun. We wouldn't actually touch her, right?" He grinned and Fiona who whimpered and got up from the couch to run to Carl, Liam and Debbie.

"Also, why do you complain? We didn't touch the pumpkin you call boyfriend, just like you asked. And we didn't touch the little girl because of Mandy" Collin explained.

"And the little black child, cause they're so fragile anyways, what could we do to him, right?" Iggy shrugged.

"Boyfriend?" Lip asked confused, staring up at Ian.

"Really, there are standing three obviously deadly wounded people in your living room that just were invisible, but the boyfriend part threw you off?", Mickey asked him.

Ian smiled and shrugged at Lip.

"Can someone please fucking tell us, what is going on here?" Fiona exclaimed.

"This is our house and you should fucking leave now, that's going on!" Jamie said sharply, "And you, midget, why do you think you can tell us what we have to do and what not all of a sudden?"

"Because I'm obviously the only one with enough brain cells to count to three! Now sit down, you idiot!"

"If you were as smart as you think you are, we wouldn't be here right now, would we?" Jamie came towards him until he stood in front of Mickey, a good head taller than him. But Mickey didn't even blink an eye, he just stared up at him, arms crossed.

"You're just mad, cause you're the oldest and yet never had the guts to do anything against dad. You never tried to help any of us. He would have never let any of us go, it would have always ended like this. So, it's not my fault, that your ass is rotting in a wooden box somewhere now, you brought this on yourself. I at least tried. Sit down!"

And Jamie actually just grunted but sat down on the couch next to Collin, like a stubborn child that just got scolded by his father or older brother, not by the youngest out of four.

"I ask again, what is going on?" Fiona demanded an answer.

Mickey and Ian were looking at her and the kids.

"You were right, Fi. The house is haunted. By the kids who died here you read in the newspapers." Ian said eventually, "By them" he pointed at the Milkovich brothers.

"I warn you, Fi, if you say I told you so, I'm gonna throw something at you!" Lip said quickly, "This is impossible! Ghosts don't exist!"

"You see my brother talking while having giant holes on both sides of his neck, and you still wanna go with that theory?" Mickey shook his head at Lip and looked at Ian, "Didn't you say, he's the smart one?"

"You all need to calm down, okay?", Ian said to his siblings.  
"Calm down?", Fiona asked loudly, "There are sitting dead people on our couch and the guy who was just called your boyfriend called one of them his brother! How exactly are we supposed to calm down here?" 

"I admit, it's a bit hard to understand", Ian looked at Mickey and bit his lip, "Could we, like, sit down and talk about this?"  
"Sit down and talk?", Lip repeated, "With them? Are you nuts?", he pointed at the Milkovich brothers.

"Yeah, I'm not a fan of you either, blondie!", Iggy shot back. Mickey stomped on his brother's foot and told him to shut the hell up.  
"How about, just with Mickey, to start, just calm down for five minutes okay?" 

"Oh, and we're thrown out again, great!", Collin complained.  
"Well, that's because you're a lot of things, but helpful isn't one of them! Now get lost, all of you!"  
"Or what, you're gonna kill us?", Jamie joked.  
"No, but Mandy will be fucking mad at you. You want that?" 

Ian frowned at Mickey, wondering, why the brothers should suddenly listen to their sister.  
But Jamie's face really changed, he bit his lip and looked at his brothers, nodding at them and suddenly they disappeared. 

"Are they gone?", Fiona asked still panicked, "Or... Or just... invisible again?"  
"Gone.", Mickey confirmed, "For now." 

A few minutes later the Gallaghers and Mickey sat awkwardly around the dining table.  
"So, when I asked you repeatedly to not be so loud while fucking, and you ignored me and went louder every time instead ... it was with him?", Fiona pointed from Ian to Mickey. 

"I see, I'm making a bomb of an first impression", Mickey mumbled and looked at his boyfriend.  
Ian put a hand on Mickey's arm. 

"So, you know that people died in this house, and yes they're still living here as ghosts. Mickey is one of them, the others are his brothers, Debbie's new friend Mandy, is his twin sister.", Ian started and took a deep breath, "But they aren't bad... or evil. I could spend hours talking about how fantastic Mickey is, but that's not the point. His brothers just... it was their house first and they want it back. They just want to scare us, right Mick?" 

"Yeah... they're shitheads and don't know when to draw the fucking line, but in the end, they don't mean to get any of you out of here in a body bag."  
"Okay, I'm not trying to get into detail about your boyfriend being a ghost or whatever... yet. But so what, are we just supposed to leave now? We can't afford that! Or are we supposed to talk it out and fucking co-exist or some shit?" 

"I would try the co-existing, maybe there is a way to talk with them.", Ian looked at Mickey.  
"I'm not going to live in a house with ghosts, no!", Fiona said before Mickey could answer, "No matter if you're screwing one of them or not."  
"But Mandy is my friend! I want to stay here!", Debbie exclaimed.  
"I think it's kinda cool to live in a haunted house", Carl grinned, "Ay, why don't you have a stab wound in your face?" 

Mickey blinked a few times.  
"Ever tried to get a hot dude to date you with two holes in your neck? The wound is on my back.", he decided to answer and smiled slightly when Carl grinned at his answer and whispered "Awesome" 

"You are completely out of your mind, all of you", Lip insisted, "Was it your brothers, that threw me down the stairs, so I broke my foot?"  
Mickey bit his bottom lip, "Well, yeah, like I said, they don't know where to draw the line. But that wasn't against any of you." 

"They broke my foot! How was that not against me?"  
"They tried to cockblock Mickey", Ian exclaimed with an apologetic look on his face.  
"Oh, right, they just...", Lip nodded and leaned back in his chair, running his hands through his locks, "Some ghosts threw me down the stairs, so their ghost brother wouldn't get laid by Ian. What else. That's completely normal!" 

"Okay, Lip, you're freaking out again. I said, stay calm. Mickey, is there any way, your brothers may stop terrorising us?"  
Mickey shrugged, "Well, they aren't listening to me on the matter. They will do fuck-all if any of you says something. They want the house and not just walk around invisibly in the attic. The past twelve years, we didn't do much, I admit that, but we at least had the house and get out of our hair every once in a while, it's probably really just some sentimental shit they're going through." 

"What about co-existing then?", Fiona asked slowly, "Like Ian said. I mean, you don't need to eat right? But if Liam sleeps in Carls room again, there are two rooms left your brothers can have? You can use the TV or whatever with us", she said helplessly.  
"What's gotten into you suddenly?", Ian asked confused.  
Fiona sighed, "We really don't have money to move... yet. Until we can move out of this hell hole, we have to make the best out of it, right?" 

"I don't want to move!", Debbie repeated.  
"Neither do I", Ian said, "I'm not going to leave Mickey here alone. If the co-existing happens to work out, we can stay here right?"  
"No, no I'm not staying for longer than necessary, we'll save up on money and we'll move again. Until then you, Ian, make sure those three...", she was obviously holding back some insults.  
"I warn you, Fi. The wrong word, and I'll make you in-laws.", Ian threatened and put an arm around Mickey, who just gave him a look and shook his head smiling.

"Those people" she said finally, trying to restrain her anger "Don't kill us." With that she got up, took Liam and went upstairs. 

Ian sighed and looked at Mickey.  
"Do you have any idea?"  
Mickey sighed, "The only person that they do listen to, is Mandy. But I don't know if we can convince her to convince them to leave you alone. I mean, she doesn't want Debbie to leave, but she doesn't really care about the rest of you or the house. She is a six year old girl, she just wants her playmate." 

"Six year old? Thought you said twin" Lip said confused, "And, anyways, wouldn't she also be dead for several years and not six anymore?"  
"She was my twin sister yeah, and she died over twenty years ago, that doesn't mean, she aged those twenty years... because dead people, don't age, in case you can't grasp that concept. Or do I look like thirty to you?" 

"She still could have mentally aged, what do I know" Lip shrugged.  
"Anyways, we can ask her right? To convince your brothers to make a deal with us?" Ian asked.  
"We can try."


	15. One of us

Ian Mickey and Debbie went back to Ian's room.  
"Is it true that you two are boyfriends?" Debbie asked.  
"Yeah, that's true." Ian mumbled.  
"Did you know there are ghosts in here then?"  
"No, I didn't know it until I saw Mandy and Fiona brought the news articles, you remember?"

Debbie looked at Mickey, "You don't look dead."  
"Thanks?"  
Ian took Mickeys hand, when they entered Ian's room.

Ian couldn't see Mandy, but he knew that didn't mean anything. He looked at Mickey, who's eyes widened.

"Mandy, no! I told you, this is not my room anymore you can't just go through the stuff" Mickey hissed and let go of Ian's hand. A second later Mandy appeared on the left side of Ian's bed and quickly shut the last drawer of the nightstand with her foot.

Ian looked at Mickey again, "Did she look into the drawer?" He whispered.  
"She was about to, hopefully, she didn't see anything"  
The last drawer on the left side just so happened to be their hiding spot for... well, everything they could need for sex that hadn't to be in ultimate reach like lube and condoms - though a lot of the objects in there were made of rubber too.

"I told you to get a lock for that thing" Mickey hissed but just shook his head and walked over to the bed.  
Mandy lay in the middle of the bed now like a starfish and looked at the ceiling.

Mickey sat next to her and the girl immediately rolled to him, putting her head on Mickeys leg.

"Mandy, we need your help." Mickey mumbled and ran a hand through her hair, "Colin, Iggy and Jamie want the Gallaghers to move out, and they scare them a lot because of it. But I don't want them to go, and you don't want them to go either, do you?"

Mandy just shrugged and played with Mickeys jacket.  
"Do you want Debbie to leave?"  
Mandy shook her head.  
"But she will leave, and Her sister will forbid her to come back if the boys don't behave themselves."

"We can make her one of us, then she stays" Mandy answered quietly.   
Ian could barely understand the siblings, but he heard that. One of them? Was that even possible? But no, they couldn't turn Debbie into a ghost!

"No, Mandy. We will not do that. But you could talk to our brothers and tell them that you want them to leave the Gallaghers alone."  
"They don't hurt Debbie. I don't care about the others"  
"But if one goes, all of them go" Mickey explained. 

Mandy shrugged, "Then you will play with me instead."  
Mickey swallowed, "Mandy, I will always play with you. But I don't want Ian to leave here yet."  
"They didn't hurt Ian. And he is big, he can come back and visit you, alone." 

"Mandy, please, this is very important to me. You're the only one they listen to. Can't you talk to them? They just have to be nice to the Gallaghers..."

Now Mandy sat up.  
"What is in it for me?" She asked and crossed her arms in front of her chest.  
Ian raised his eyebrows and walked towards the bed with Debbie.

Mickey sighed.  
"What do you want?"  
"I want a new dress. But you have to pick it out again. And on Halloween, I want you to go outside with me and I want to go trick or treating!"  
"Mands-"  
"I want to go trick or treat! I want candy on Halloween!"

"Halloween is over, we have December."  
"Then promise for next year!"  
Mickey sighed.  
"Promise me!"   
"Okay. Okay, I promise. And you get the new dress. But you will talk to Jamie and the others?"  
Mandy shrugged and nodded.   
"Debbie, do you want to go play dolls with me now?" 

"Hey, Mandy, no, talk to them first."  
"What about my dress?"  
"I get it as soon as possible, but only if you talk to them first."  
Mandy rolled her eyes and in the next moment she disappeared. 

Ian quickly sent Debbie out of the room as well and sat on the bed next to Mickey.  
"You think this will work?"   
"I honestly have no idea. But it's worth the try. I just want to keep you here as long as possible." Mickey kissed him.

"Hey, when Mandy said, you could make Debbie one of you... did she mean, turn her into a ghost."  
"Don't worry about that. I'm not gonna let that happen, nothing's gonna happen to either of you."

"So, you think, if one of us dies here, they would just become a ghost too?"  
Mickey gnawed on his bottom lip.  
"That's something you don't need to think about. No one will ever find out how this works, and no one should."  
But of course, Ian couldn't shake that thought anymore.


	16. There is no future

Mickeys brothers lay low for some time. Whatever Mandy did, seemed to work. That didn't mean, Fiona wasn't very aware that there were ghosts around the whole time.

Ian tried to act as unconcerned as possible. He just enjoyed the time he got to spend with Mickey.  
But his head was full of visions of a possible future - one without Mickey.

Even if the family stayed in this house, Ian had to move out at some point, he had to go to work and make his own life.  
He of course could always come back to visit Mickey, but he would never be able to have a real, adult relationship with him. They could never grow old together and in the end, Ian would get old and ugly and Mickey wouldn't want him anymore and Ian would die alone.

He just wanted to be with Mickey forever. He never wanted to be apart from him, never wanted to lose him. He wanted to spend his life with no other man than Mickey - even if that meant spending eternity in this house with him.  
Ian didn't have any great big future plans anyways. He didn't even had much of a perspective or chance to get out of the Southside.

After a few more months, Fiona finally had enough money together to get rid of the house again and move back into their old, small shithole.

That message was received with very mixed feelings by the Gallaghers. Carl still thought it was cool to live in a haunted house and actually started to communicate with the Milkovich brothers since he thought their wounds looked cool. Debbie liked Mandy and wanted to stay. And Ian of course couldn't think of something worse than leaving the house and Mickey right now.

Lip and Fiona on the other hand couldn't get fast enough out of this place.

"I don't want to move out" Ian said sternly, he was pacing around his room.  
"I know" Mickey said, he lay on Ian's bed, "I don't want you to move out either, but it's not really like you have a choice, freckles."

Ian sat down on the edge of the bed, "I'm not going to leave you here all alone."  
"I'm not alone, I have my brothers and Mandy. And you can come visit me whenever."

Ian lay down and looked at Mickey, who still stared at the ceiling.  
"I want to stay here with you"  
"That's not possible. There are things that you just have to accept."

"I'm not gonna accept it."  
"I was afraid you would say that" Mickey sighed, "Listen, Ian, this is probably for the best."

"Why would you say that? Don't you love me anymore?"  
Mickey scoffed and looked at him, "Don't be stupid, of course I love you. Of course, I want to be with you and want you to stay. But you have to admit a house full of ghosts isn't the right place to raise a family. Not even yours."

Ian looked him deeply into his blue eyes.  
"I could die. Then I could stay with here forever."

Mickey frowned at him.  
"No" he said sharply and got up from the bed.

"No?"  
"No, Ian! You are not going to kill yourself in here! I'm not going to let that happen!"

"Why not? We could be together forever!"  
"Are you completely mental?" Mickey almost yelled at him, " You don't want this life, Ian! It's not a life! I'm dead, I'm trapped in this house forever with no way out and there is no way I let you go through the same hell out of some... some fucking teenage romance bullshit!"

"Teenage romance?" Ian repeated and sat up as well, he looked up at him obviously upset, "That's all this is? I love you Mickey, you are the one I'm supposed to be with! I want to be only with you, there is no one else for me!"

"But there is no fucking future with me, Ian!" Mickey yelled at him, "Don't you get that? There is No future! I'm not going to get out of here, we are not going to get our own fucking house with some white fucking picket fence! We are not gonna get married and we won't have some fucking children and grow old together while sitting on our front porch! No matter how much you want that, or I want that, It won't happen! It's impossible! So, you will forget about that! You hear me?"

Every word hit Ian like a punch to the stomach and brought tears to his eyes. Mickey didn't want to make him cry. But he had to say this, and he wasn't finished yet. 

"We just aren't supposed to be forever, and as fucked as that is, you have to accept it. And better you accept it now than never! And if you're already at a point, were you think killing yourself is somewhere near an option, Maybe we should just end things right here!"

"You don't mean that", Ian whispered, tears were now rolling down his cheeks.  
"I don't want to lose you, Ian. I want to be with you." Mickey tried to calm his voice, "But not if it ends with you hurting yourself! So, you will move your ass out of this house and you will get a normal life and a normal boyfriend and one day you won't think about me anymore. You hear me?"

"I don't want another boyfriend."  
"Well, we don't always get what we fucking want!" His voice got louder again, "Or do you think I want a fucking 7 inch deep stab wound in my back? I swear Ian, if any of your small little thoughts ever go as far as in the direction of dying again, I will never talk to you again. You got that?"

"But Mickey, what life am I supposed to live as long as I know that the one person I want to be with, is in here?", Ian got up from the bed and tried to grab his hands, but Mickey took a step back.  
"One without me!" Mickey yelled at him and panted, he closed his eyes, a painful look on his face, "Like this"  
And suddenly he was gone.

"Mickey?" Ian looked around, his room was empty, "Mickey, come back! Mickey don't do this!"

But Mickey stayed gone.


	17. You aren't supposed to die here

Ian had been crying endlessly for weeks. Mickey didn't show himself anymore since their fight. No matter who he had called, Mickey or Mandy, even his brothers, no one came.  
Even Debbie said, that Mandy didn't come to play with her anymore.

When Fiona after a month finally said, that it was probably for the better that Mickey ended things with him, Ian stopped talking to her completely.  
Now they were two weeks away from moving and Ian's siblings had already started to put their stuff into boxes.

Ian knew, Mickey left him for his own sake. He knew, Mickey didn't want him to get hurt, didn't want him to die and be trapped in the house too. But the longer he was without him, the more he knew, he had to do it. He had to make himself a ghost too and be in this house forever with Mickey. There was no one else but him, no one else he wanted.

He sat on his bed and looked at the picture of Mickey and his brothers.  
Ian sighed and looked at the other item in his hand.  
It was a bottle of sleeping pills, he had paid a kid in the neighbourhood to get them for him.  
Today was Mickeys death day. Ghosts could leave the house on two days, their death day and Halloween. If Ian had the same death day as Mickey, they could have two days a year they could walk around outside together.

"Don't", a voice said suddenly out of nowhere.

Ian looked up. Mickey stood in front of him, he looked at him sadly.

"Mickey", Ian breathed out and smiled.  
"What are you doing, man? Wasn't I clear?", he asked softly.

"I just... I want this, Mickey. I want to stay with you in this house. And even if it means I have to die, then so be it. I love you, Mickey."  
"I love you too", Mickey stepped closer and cupped his cheeks, "That's why I can't let you do this. Don't you understand? This isn't how your life is supposed to end."

"Maybe it is.", Ian got up and looked him in the eyes, "There is no way I will ever love anyone as much as I love you. We are meant to be together, Mickey. I felt drawn to you since the first time I saw you."  
"When I died you were just five years old, Ian."  
"So, our timing's a bit off, so what? I love you."

Mickey let his head hang low and sighed.  
"Ian, you know that I love you just as much, hell I go so far to say, I love you even more. And I never thought, I could get someone like you to love me, and I'm thankful that you did. It sure as hell was the best year of my life. And when I dreamed about getting away from my dad, meeting a nice guy and getting married and have that white picket fence fantasy, being fucking normal for once – I dreamed about having a man like you. But we rarely get what we want. I'm dead, I'll never get my dream husband, never have children, get that job and house and framed photographs of a cheesy wedding." 

Mickey took a deep breath and looked up at Ian again, he caressed his cheek and smiled sadly.  
"But you still have a chance on that. Don't you understand? You aren't supposed to die at age eighteen in this house. You are supposed to get your high school diploma, get a nice job, lots of friends, and you're gonna find a nice guy that you will marry and adopt some cute-ass kids with. You will do all that, and maybe you will think about me sometimes, and then you will thank me that I made you leave this house and live that life you're supposed to live."

"I don't want to marry anyone but you."  
"You can't do that, no matter if you're dead yourself or not. Ian, this doesn't solve any of your problems... or mine. Besides, we don't even know if this would work. My sister, my brothers and I were all killed violently by our dad. We don't know if we are here because we died in the house, or because of how we died, or because of who killed us. What if you kill yourself and you don't end up like us? What if you just die? Then your life would be over, I would have lost you and your family would have lost you. How is that making any sense?"

Ian let out a shaky breath.  
"Think about them, Ian. They will be heartbroken and all that just... just for some guy? Without knowing if it will work? That isn't what you want, not what you deserve. You deserve to have a long life. And you can come here and visit me, but I don't want you to die here. So, please, give me those pills."

Ian looked at the pills in his hand and back at Mickey, who put his hand over Ian's, waiting for him to give him the bottle.  
Ian swallowed and slowly gave it to him, while tears threatened to spill out of his eyes again.  
"It's okay", Mickey whispered, his face close to Ian's, "It's gonna be okay."  
Mickey took the pill bottle from him and in return lay his lips on Ian's.

They kissed slowly, sadly. As if it was the final good-bye already.  
Eventually Mickey pulled back and smiled at him. He took a step back and turned around to put the pills on Ian's nightstand, out of the boy's reach, when suddenly he heard an awful noise behind him.

The noise of a blade being stuck into a body, and Ian gasping.

Mickey turned around again and only saw Colin standing there, Ian was doubled over his arm, a shocked expression on his face.

"NO!", Mickey screamed, when Colin just pushed Ian's body back and let him fall to the floor, a knife still deep in his stomach.

"No", Mickey pushed Colin away and fell down on his knees next to Ian, "No, no, no, Ian stay with me! HELP!"

It didn't take the other Gallaghers longer than five seconds to appear in the room, shocked at the scene in front of them.

Mickey sat by Ian's head, leaned over him, mumbling to stay calm and stay awake and that everything would be okay. His brothers stood behind him, just watching them.

Lip was the first one to react, he ran into the room and fell down next to his brother. He looked at the knife that still stuck in his body and wanted to take it.

"Don't you dare touching that!", Mickey hissed, "If you pull it out, he dies! Call a fucking ambulance or something!", he had tears in his eyes, he held Ian's hand, "Don't you dare dying on me here, Ian! You're gonna be alright, it's not so bad, it's gonna be okay.", he ran his hand through Ian's orange head.

Ian was gasping and coughing and clutched Mickey's hand.  
He looked up at him and raised his hand up to his face, what seemed to take a lot of strength off him. He gently touched Mickey's cheek and Mickey almost snarled at him to stop being silly and concentrate on breathing right now.

Ian's fingertips grazed Mickey's cheek lightly and Mickey sobbed and held his hand tighter, but suddenly, Ian let his hand drop towards the knife instead and before Mickey could react the redhead pulled it out with all the strength he had left.

"NO!", Mickey yelled again, Colin must have precisely aimed for the abdominal artery, because the blood was running out of the wound fast, "No, you idiot!"  
Mickey ripped his jacket from his own body and pressed it on the wound, knowing that it was pretty much no use.

"Press that on there!", he said to Lip and cupped Ian's cheeks.  
"Why would you do that, you idiot? They could have rescued you.", his voice broke and he sobbed, "Don't do this Ian, don't die here, don't"

Lip was too shocked by the scenery to concentrate on pressing the jacket on Ian's wound. He looked at the helpless man holding his little brother in his arms whispering that everything would be okay, knowing that it wouldn't.

"It's okay Ian, ambulance is on their way, they will rescue you, yeah? Ian?"  
He held him, still crying, while Ian's breath went shallow.

Ian looked up at him, gasping for air holding his hand tightly, but his grip became weaker and weaker and then his breathing stopped.

"No", Mickey repeated over and over again, he had pulled Ian up into his arms and rocked with his body back and forth, "No, no, no, god no!"


	18. Your idea of family

When the paramedics finally arrived, there was nothing they could do anymore. They declared Ian Gallagher dead and treated it like a homicide.  
The Milkovich brothers were invisible by then again. 

The older brothers were hiding from Mickey – with good reason; just because they were dead, didn't mean, Mickey couldn't hurt them. And oh, how had he sworn revenge for killing Ian right in front of him. 

But while the cops came and the Gallaghers told a story about a masked man breaking in, stabbing Ian and getting the hell out, Mickey just sat there, leaned against the nightstand, legs pulled to his chin. He stared at Ian while holding his bloody jacket in his hands. 

Since Ian's death the Gallaghers weren't at the house anymore. They were just waiting at their old place for the cops to say it was okay for them to move their stuff. 

Mickey knew, that it had taken him and his brothers around a week to wake up again. So, he waited a week. 

He used that week to chase his brothers through the house. And when their little brother was angry, he could be sadistic - when you live with Terry for 17 years, you learn something after all.

He didn't want to hear the "We did it because you wanted him to stay in the house" excuse once. He didn't want Ian to die here, he didn't want him to stay in the house forever.  
But it may better have worked, because if Ian died for nothing, Mickey would probably find a way to kill the brothers all over again. 

After that week he started just sitting in his old room again, that now was Ian's room, and waited.  
He sat there and concentrated on the spot Ian had died at. 

Maybe his body should have stayed here, maybe he needed to wake up next to his body like the rest of them. 

Nothing happened, the room stayed empty and Mickey angrily kicked the closet a few times.  
He eventually stopped because his foot hurt, and sank down on the wood until he sat on the ground again. 

Mandy appeared in front of him.  
"What are you doing here, Mands? I said, I want to be alone." 

Mandy was wearing her new dress, she looked at him out of her blood-shot eyes, she looked nervous. 

"What's up?"  
Mandy walked towards him.  
"I told Colin to kill Ian." 

Mickey blinked a few times, he stared up at his sister in shock.  
"You what?"  
"You didn't want him to go. You wanted a husband and not be alone. I want you to be happy. So now Ian will be here with you." 

Mickey looked at her speechless, he shook his head.  
"How could you do that? Mandy, that's wrong. That's so... no! Ian wasn't supposed to die here, he was supposed to get out and live!" 

"But he didn't want to. He wanted to be here. He said so."  
"He wasn't of sound mind, Mandy. You can't just... what have you done? Oh god" he ran his hands through his hair. 

"I just wanted to help" Mandy started crying, "Now he can be your husband, like you wanted"  
"You ruined his life!" Mandy yelled at her and Mandy flinched and stepped back from her brother, "Go, go away, I don't want to see you right now!" 

Mandy sobbed and disappeared again. 

Mickey never wanted to make his sister cry, her happiness had always been his top priority. But he couldn't believe that it was her out of all people who was responsible for this. She was a naive child, yes, but even she had to know, that killing Ian was wrong. 

"Ian" he whispered, "Please come back to me, please. Don't let this be for nothing."

Mickey stayed in the room the whole day and night, staring at the floor, waiting. Just waiting. 

He barely noticed the sun setting and rising the next morning again. 

He kept repeating Ian's name, hoping Ian could hear him that way, like all ghosts could, and find his way to him somehow. 

After three days he gave up.  
He got out of the room and got up to the attic. His brothers froze when they saw him. 

"Listen, Mick, just because he isn't here yet, doesn't mean, he won't come. We don't know how long we took exactly." Jamie tried to calm him.  
"I wouldn't have to wait for that one way or another if your asses wouldn't have killed him in the first place" Mickey spat. 

"It was Colin" Iggy reminded him.  
"You two didn't stop him, did you? You just watched. And all that because Mandy asked you to? A six year old asks you to kill an innocent boy and you think 'yeah that's a good idea'?" 

"I didn't think at all!"  
"Yeah that's typical for you. What's wrong with you?" He was too exhausted to even get angry at them by now, " We are brothers and always claim to be that. Don't fuck with the Milkoviches. But in reality, we never were that. We never had each other's backs. Hell, if any of you would have known I was gay when Dad was still alive, you would have snitched on me just to get one beating less. You never did anything, not for me, not for Mandy, even though we were the youngest, even though you knew we had it the worst. And you feel so guilty about that, that you kill the boy I love most in this world in front of me just because Mandy told you to. And you call that family. Your idea of family is as twisted as dad's." 

He shook his head, too tired to fight and argue and just made himself disappear again to sit downstairs in the living room and stare at the shut off TV.


	19. Am I dead?

"Mickey!" A scream echoed through the house.  
Mickeys head shot up, he didn't move from the couch in four days. 

"Mick, where are you?"  
"Ian?" Mickey whispered, did he hear right? Was he dreaming? 

Mickey jumped up from the couch and ran upstairs to Ian's room. 

"Ian?"  
"Mickey!", Ian sat on the ground in his room.  
Mickey could have cried when he saw him, he ran to him and pulled him into a hug. 

"You're here" Mickey whispered and pulled him as close as possible, "I thought I lost you forever." 

"Am I dead?" Ian asked, he sounded panicked, "Mickey am I dead?"  
Mickey took a shaky breath, "Yes, I'm so sorry, Ian. I'm sorry. But I got you, okay? I got you, everything will be okay." 

Ian held on to Mickeys jacket tightly.  
"God, why did you have to pull out that knife, Ian? Why did you do that? You could have survived this"  
"I just... I told you I wanted this." 

Mickey pulled back and gently ran his fingers over Ian's cheek.  
"Your reaction tells me that you don't want in the end."  
Ian looked at him, "I'm with you, so... I'm okay." 

Mickey shook his head, " Your life shouldn't just revolve around some guy."  
"You're not just some guy. Please don't be mad at me anymore, Mick. Not right now." 

Mickey took a deep breath  
"Okay freckles" he kissed his forehead, "How about, we put you into a nice warm bath as long as we still got warm water in this house and then get you some other clothes to wear." 

Ian was of course still wearing his blood soaked clothes from when he died. 

Ian nodded and pulled him in for a proper kiss.


	20. Happy Halloween

3 years later 

Mickey woke up to playful kisses tickling his neck.  
He chuckled, when he felt Ian's body pressed on his, erection poking him in the back. 

"Happy Halloween" Ian whispered.  
"Ian let me sleep" Mickey grinned while Ian's hand on his stomach wandered down to his boxers. 

"You slept for three weeks, time to wake up. Your boyfriend is horny"  
"I noticed" Mickey smiled, "Waking me up just to fuck me, huh?"  
"Got a problem with that?"  
"Of course not." He turned around in Ian's arms and kissed him. 

"But we don't have all the time in the world, we are supposed to be at Fiona's in two hours."  
"Two hours?" Mickey raised his eyebrows, "That's two full rounds, shower sex and a blowjob if we're good." 

"What are you waiting for then, huh?" Ian grinned and Mickey climbed on top of him, straddling his hips, he took his shirt off and leaned down to kiss Ian again. 

Ian let his hands wander down Mickeys body, over the old bruises and scars, he cupped his ass and smirked up at him. 

Mickey moved on top of him, rubbing their crotches together, he leaned down to kiss his boyfriend. 

The Gallaghers had left Ian's old stuff in the house back then so Ian could use it, including his bed, a fact that Mickey loved. 

Ian made quick work of ridding them of their last pieces of clothing, Mickey kissed his neck and ran on hand over Ian's chest down his birth to the stab wound on his stomach. 

He still felt guilty because of this. Ian should be 21 by now, but he wasn't. But Ian didn't mind most of the time, he loved Mickey and he would rather stay dead with him in this house than be apart from him (a statement Mickey wouldn't call 'healthy' but in the end he was glad that Ian was still with him) 

Mickey loved this boy more than anything in the world and he had made his best efforts to give him the most normal life he could possibly have within the walls of this house. 

Ian grabbed the lube, slicked his fingers up and brought them back to Mickeys ass.   
Mickey kissed Ians lips again and hummed into the kiss when Ian teasingly pushed his finger into him. 

Prepping Mickey while the Milkovich was on top of him was always a bit trickier than in other positions but neither of them could be bothered to change it right now. 

Ian thrusted his finger in and out of Mickey, soon adding another one until Mickey had enough and told him to finally fuck him. 

Ian kissed his lips passionately again before Mickey sat up properly, lubed Ian's cock up and then let himself sink down on him.   
He moaned while he felt his cock deeper and deeper inside of him.   
He would never get tired of this feeling. 

When Ian was fully placed inside of him, Ian smirked up at him and thrusted his hips up, resulting in Mickey moaning loudly and falling over a bit, so he had to hold himself up by putting one hand on his shoulder. 

Mickey moved on top of Ian, letting his dick slide in and out of him in a quick pace. Ian had one hand on Mickeys hip the other one around his cock, jerking him off additionally. 

"You're so hot, fuck" Ian moaned.   
Mickey smirked at him and leaned down to kiss him while still riding him, Ian additionally snapped his hips up, fucking into the Milkovich in hard thrusts. 

The two loved being loud during this. Especially because Mickeys brothers always heard them and were always mad at them for it - it was a great laugh for Ian and Mickey. Also the brothers had learned the hard way to not come into the room to tell them to shut the fuck up - the last time they came into the room to tell them off, Ian was busy shoving a dildo into Mickeys ass while the Milkovich sucked his dick. A picture that had Colin wishing, Terry would have stabbed him through both eyes. 

"I'm gonna come", Ian moaned lowly, Mickey kissed him again, he was close too.   
Ian came a few thrusts later, shooting his load up into Mickeys ass, having the Milovich moan even louder and going faster on his dick until he came as well over Ian's hand and stomach. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Of course, they were late when they arrived at Fiona's place.  
The family was happy to see them as always. Well, they were happy to see Ian. Mickey usually tried to stay in the background and not gain too much attention. 

While Ian spent the day with his family, Mickey was out running some errands (some with his brothers). Shoplifting new clothes and other stuff, and like every year, he used his invisibly skill to spy on rich people on their ATM machines, stole their card, got just the amount of money they wouldn't realise was gone so quick, that a few times, so he could pay for the whole year of water, gas etc in advance - it was an idea he had for years already but only now with Ian around put into action. This way their house was actually inhabitable. 

It was their home now, not just some haunted house, not the old Milkovich-murder-house. It was their home and they loved it. 

After Mickey was finished with his errands, he came back to the Gallagher house to have family dinner with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it  
> Thanks for reading 🖤 
> 
> Btw the original title of this used to be  
> "I'm dead wanna hook up?"  
> But I found it spoiled the first few chapters of this story


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